 "Sylvia", and "Coppélia" before it, are often touted as two of the first modern ballets for their novel scores.Tchaikovsky himself remarked to fellow composer Sergei Taneyev upon the ingenuity of "Sylvia", calling it "... the first ballet, where the music constitutes not only the main, but the only interest.What charm, what elegance, what richness of melody, rhythm, harmony."