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French composer renowned for his influential ballet scores and operas, particularly celebrated for his melodic grace, orchestral color, and significant contribution to elevating ballet music to a serious art form. Léo Delibes studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He began his career as a church organist and chorus master while composing light operettas. His breakthrough came with the ballet 'Coppélia' (1870), followed by 'Sylvia' (1876), establishing him as a master of the genre. His opera 'Lakmé' (1883), featuring the famous 'Bell Song', achieved international success. Delibes also taught composition at the Conservatoire. He is credited with revolutionizing ballet music, giving it greater dramatic weight and symphonic richness, profoundly influencing later composers like Tchaikovsky.

• Delibes achieved his first significant success at just 17 years old when he composed the music for a scene in Adolphe Adam's ballet "Le Corsaire".
• He died relatively young, at the age of 54, in Paris from a heart attack, just as he was reaching the peak of his creative powers.
• Tchaikovsky greatly admired Delibes's ballet scores, particularly "Sylvia". Upon hearing it, Tchaikovsky reportedly wrote, "If I had known this music earlier, I would not have written Swan Lake" (though the exact wording is debated, his admiration was genuine).