Adolphe Adam,
G i s e l l e, balet
Rudolf Nureyev- Giselle,Lynn Seymour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Iqq_BPb24w&feature=related
Giselle. Rudolf Nureyev, Lynn Seymour, The Ballet of the
Bavarian Stage Opera House, Film-ballet.
Act I: in a medieval village in Rhineland
the gamekeeper Hilarion is deeply in love with Giselle and just as jealous of
Loys, who is really the Duke Albrecht disguised as a peasant. Loys comes to
meet Giselle after hiding his sword and sending his equerry away. When Giselle
comes out of her house she is courted by Loys. Giselle then plucks the petals
from a flower and gets a "he loves me not" answer, but Loys promises
eternal love to her. Then Hilarion enters the scene and swears his love for
Giselle. He, however, is scorned by Giselle and chased away by Loys and leaves
promising revenge. The village people come out and there is music and dancing.
Giselle joins in the dancing despite her mother's fears against it because many
girls have died after dancing on their wedding night and become wilis, white
phantoms who haunt the woods by moonlight. At this point in the party the
Prince of Kurland and his daughter Bathilde, who are returning from the hunt,
stop in the village. Giselle and the Princess Bathilde dance, and the princess
gives Giselle a necklace before leaving. Meanwhile, Albrecht/Loys has been
conveniently away. When Albrecht/Loys returns Hilarion unmasks Albrecht,
breaking his disguise by showing Albrecht's sword, which he has found. He then
sounds his horn to recall the nobles. When they arrive, Albrecht takes the
princess,' (to whom he is betrothed), arm, ignores the presence of Giselle, and
says that he was simply diverting himself in the country dances. Giselle,
crushed by this, goes mad and in her frenzy grabs Albrecht's sword and kills
herself with it, falling dead into her mother's arms in front of an astonished
and despairing Albrecht. Act II: It is midnight by Giselle's grave in the
woods. Hilarion wanders by, mortally afraid. Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis
appears and scatters the petals of every white flower in the woods with a twig,
thus calling the rest of the wilis, who arrive to welcome their new companion,
Giselle. The wilis hear human footsteps approaching and quickly vanish in the woods,
leaving Giselle hovering above her grave. It is Albrecht, who is mourning
Giselle, whom he learned to love too late. He places some lilies on her grave,
then suddenly sees the hovering Giselle, whom he follows into the woods. The
wilis return and Hilarion wanders back on stage. He is immediately surrounded
by the wilis who force him to dance until he drops dead of exhaustion. Then
Albrecht returns and is condemned to the same fate as Hilarion and all of those
who encounter the wilis. Giselle, however, protects him and begs the Queen for
mercy, in vain. Albrecht dances, sustained by Giselle's love until the first
light of dawn chases the wilis into the woods, and survives.
Premiere: June 14th, 1841, Paris Opera, Paris
One of the most popular ballets of all time this ballet is
being performed somewhere by someone almost all the time, and has boasted all
of the best dancers in its leading roles since its creation. It is in Giselle
that Petipa, (who did some work on the original choreography), created the
ballet-blanc, or corps of women, in white, that has become a symbol of
classical ballet.