The two-act ballet Giselle is a fantastic story created by three librettists - Henri de Saint-Georges, Theophile Gauthier, Jean Coralli and composer Adolphe Adan according to a legend told by Heinrich Heine.
How was an immortal masterpiece created?
The Parisian public saw the ballet Giselle in 1841. This was the era of romanticism, the code in the dance productions, it was customary to include elements of folklore and myths. The music for the ballet was written by composer Adolf Adan. One of the authors of the libretto of the ballet "Giselle" was
Theophile Gautier. Together with him, the famous librettist Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and the choreographer Jean Coralli, who was involved in staging the play, also worked on the libretto of the ballet Giselle. The ballet "Giselle" does not lose its popularity to this day. The Russian public first saw this story of tragic love in the Mariinsky Theater in 1884, but with some adjustments made by Marius Petipa for the ballerina M. Gorshenkova, who performed the part of Giselle, which was then replaced by the great
Anna Pavlova. In this performance, not only choreographic mastery is important for the ballerina, but also dramatic talent, the ability to transform, since the main character in the first act appears as a naive girl, then turns into a suffering girl, and in the second act becomes a ghost.
Libretto of the ballet "Giselle"
In his book “On Germany”, Heinrich Heine wrote an old Slavic legend about the Wilis - girls who died from unhappy love and rise from their graves at night to destroy young men wandering into the night, so they avenge their ruined lives. It was this legend that became the basis for the libretto of the ballet Giselle. Summary of the production: Count Albert and the peasant Giselle love each other, but Albert has a bride; the girl learns about it and dies of grief, after which she becomes a Wilice; Albert comes at night to the beloved’s grave and is surrounded by the Vilis, he faces death, but Giselle protects him from the anger of his friends and manages to escape.
T. Gautier - the main developer of the libretto, he reworked the Slavic legend for the play "Giselle" (ballet). The content of the production takes the viewer away from the place where this myth arose. All events librettist moved to Thuringia.
Production characters
The main character is a peasant girl Giselle, Albert is her lover. Forester Illarion (in Russian productions by Hans). Berta is the mother of Giselle. Albert's Bride - Bathilda. Wilfried is a squire; The lord of the Willis is Mirta. Among the characters are peasants, courtiers, servants, hunters, and wilis.
T. Gauthier decided to give the ancient myth a cosmopolitan character, and with his light hand the countries, customs and titles that are not in the original history were included in Giselle (ballet). The content was adjusted, as a result of which the characters were slightly changed. The author of the libretto made the protagonist of Albert the Duke of Silesia, and the father of his bride became the Duke of Courland.
1 action
The ballet "Giselle", a brief summary of scenes 1 to 6
Events take place in a mountain village. Berta lives with her daughter Giselle in a small house. Not far away, Lois, Giselle's lover, lives in another hut. Dawn came and the peasants went to work. Meanwhile, the forester Hans, who is in love with the main character, from a secluded place watches her meeting with Lois, he is tormented by jealousy. Seeing the passionate hugs and kisses of lovers, he runs up to them and condemns the girl for such behavior. Lois chases him away. Hans swears revenge. Soon Giselle's girlfriends appeared, along with them she started dancing. Berta tries to stop these dances, noting that her daughter has a weak heart, fatigue and excitement are dangerous to her life.
The ballet "Giselle", a brief summary of scenes from 7 to 13
Hans manages to uncover the secret of Lois, who, it turns out, is not a peasant at all, but Duke Albert. The forester makes his way to the duke's house and takes his sword to use it as evidence of the rival’s noble origin. Hans demonstrates Giselle's Albert sword. The truth is revealed that Albert is a duke and he has a bride. The girl is deceived, she does not believe in Albert's love. Her heart cannot stand it and she dies. Albert, distraught with grief, tries to kill himself, but he is not allowed to do this.
2 action
The ballet "Giselle", a brief summary of scenes from 1 to 6 of 2 acts
After death, Giselle turned into a vilis. Hans, tormented by remorse and feeling guilty for the death of Giselle, comes to her grave, the wilis notice him, circle in his round dance and he falls dead.
The ballet "Giselle", a brief summary of scenes from 7 to 13 of Act 2
Albert is unable to forget his beloved. At night, he comes to her grave. He is surrounded by the Vilis, among which is Giselle. He tries to hug her, but she is just an elusive shadow. He falls to his knees near her grave, Giselle flies up and lets him touch her. The Vilis begin to circle Albert in a round dance, Giselle tries to save him, and he remains alive. At dawn, the vilis disappear, Giselle also disappears, forever saying goodbye to her lover, but she will forever live in his heart.