Giselle - A Chronicle Of Joy

By Haywood Hunter


Giselle is to ballet what Hamlet is to the theatre. Historically important in its own right, audiences flock to it so they may see it interpreted afresh by a new corps of ballerinas. Enthusiasts swear that every time they go, they always see something that they had missed on previous occasions.

A love triangle with some unusual twists, the ballet tells the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart when she learns that the nobleman with whom she has fallen hopelessly in love is engaged to another woman. A gamekeeper, who has fallen in love with the peasant girl, is seen weeping at her grave when he is startled by a band of spirits of young women who had died before their wedding days. The bitter spirits rise from their graves to torture men to their deaths.

It is the normal practice of the Wilis to use their beauty to capture the attentions of young men and them force them to dance until dead. Hilarion, they chase relentlessly until they toss him to his death in a lake. Moving on to serve a similar fate to Albrecht, they are thwarted by the ghost of the peasant girl. She forgives Albrecht, who is spared by the Wilis at dawn when they return to their graves until the following evening. Giselle may now rest eternally in peace.

The ballet was first shown in Paris in June 1841. It came to London in 1842 and travelled to Russia, Italy and the USA. It has been released as a film in 3D.

The role demands technical precision, dramatic acting skill as well as outstanding grace. For this reason, it is one of the most coveted roles in ballet. It was created for Carlotta Grisi by dramatist Theophile Gautier. It has been played by many other accomplished ballerinas including Anna Pavlova, Alicia Markova and Svetlana Zakharova.

Gautier was inspired by the story of the Wilis, which was written by poet and novelist Heinrich Heine. Gautier pictured it in his mind as a ballet. He worked with the composer, Adolphe Adam and choreographer, Jules Perot.




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