Giselle
Giselle is a ballet in two acts based on a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier . The original choreography was created by Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli to the music of Adolphe Adam . Some additional numbers were composed by Friedrich Burgmüller and for later versions in Russia by Léon Minkus and Riccardo Drigo .
The first Giselle was Carlotta Grisi and the first was Albrecht Lucien Petipa , the brother of Marius Petipa .
Giselle is one of the greatest masterpieces of classical ballet and one of the very few from the early Romantic era that has remained in the repertoire to this day. In addition to La Sylphide , it is also one of the first pieces in which the ballerina (in Act 2) wears a calf-length tutu .
Performance history
Origin and early history
The libretto is inspired by the legend of Wilis from De l'Allemagne (1835) by Heinrich Heine . The Wilis are young women who died before their wedding. However, since the desire to dance continues in their dead hearts, their spirits leave their graves at night to dance at crossroads. Should you get hold of a living man, dance wildly with him until he falls over dead. Another source of inspiration was Victor Hugo's poem Fantômes , where a young girl dies after dancing enthusiastically at a ball.
The ballet had its world premiere at the Paris Opera on June 28, 1841 . Jules Perrot had designed the choreography for the title role of Giselle for Carlotta Grisi , who was his partner at the time. The insane scene at the end of act one is inspired by contemporary Italian opera and requires remarkable pantomime skills. Jean Coralli was responsible for the remaining group and solo dances . In addition to Grisi in the title role and Lucien Petipa as Albrecht, Adèle Dumilâtre as Myrtha and (the choreographer) Jean Coralli as Hilarion. The now famous peasant pas de deux (or pas des paysans ) in the 1st act is the only passage that has nothing to do with the actual plot. It was originally created for ballerina Nathalie Fitz-James and Auguste Mabille . Coralli put the music together from Friedrich Burgmüller's Souvenirs de Ratisbonne .
The world premiere of Giselle differed from the version known today in a number of ways. The ballet style of that time was not as acrobatic as it is today and Marie Taglioni's first top dance in La Sylphide was only a few years ago. In addition, the piece contained considerably more pantomime parts, which were later gradually replaced by dance steps.
The ballet was immediately a huge success and was staged nine months later, on March 12, 1842, at Her Majesty's Theater in London , again with Carlotta Grisi as Giselle. About a year later, on March 30, 1843, and also in London, Fanny Elßler appeared for the first time in the title role, whose strength, however, lay more in the 1st act than in the ethereal lace dance of the 2nd act. Marius Petipa , who was to play an important role in the tradition of the ballet, danced the role of Albrecht as early as 1843 in Bordeaux and in 1844 in Madrid .
Ballet remained in the repertoire in Paris until 1868.
Giselle in Russia
Giselle also came to Saint Petersburg early . The premiere there was on December 30th (OS December 18th) 1842, in a rehearsal by the local ballet master Antoine Titus and with the prima ballerina Elena Andreyanova in the title role.
Jules Perrot, one of the creators of Giselle , came to Russia in the late 1840s and released a revised version of the ballet on October 20 (OS October 8) 1850 at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theater in Saint Petersburg , in which Carlotta Grisi danced the was on tour in Russia. Marius Petipa danced the Albrecht and assisted Perrot with the new choreography.
Petipa's later revisions by Giselle were decisive for the further development and transmission of the ballet . For the first in 1884, Ludwig Minkus composed a new pas de deux in the first act with the prima ballerina Maria Gorshenkova and Pavel Gerdt as Albrecht. However, this pas de deux was not permanently adopted in ballet, but is now sometimes danced at galas. Petipa also brought out the ballet in 1887 with the Italian star dancers Emma Bessone and Enrico Cecchetti in the leading roles, in 1889 with Elena Cornalba and in 1899 with Henrietta Grimaldi. In Petipa's last version, which had its premiere on May 13th (OS April 30th) 1903, Anna Pavlova danced Giselle, which became one of her favorite roles . Nikolai Legat interpreted Albrecht.
One of the most important revisions of Petipa is the choreographic expansion of the Grand Pas des Wilis in the 2nd act, which was already recorded in 1899 using the Stepanov method (the 1st act only in 1903); these documents are now in the Sergeyev Collection at Harvard University . The Parisian version of the ballet was notated by Henri Justamant as early as the 1860s and has also survived.
20th century
Most of the later classical interpretations are based on Petipa's last St. Petersburg revision, for which, among other things, he made the entire corps de ballet of the Wilis dance to the top.
After long oblivion in Western Europe, Sergei Djagilev's Ballets Russes brought Giselle back to the stage in Paris in 1910 . Since then it has been part of the standard repertoire of almost all major ballet companies .
To this day, the giselle is one of the most sought-after roles for classic ballerinas. In addition to the first interpretation by Carlotta Grisi , the interpretations by Olga Spessivtseva , Alicia Markowa , Galina Ulanowa , and Eva Evdokimova have made ballet history. Other well-known interpreters are Anna Pawlowna Pawlowa , Tamara Karsavina , Alicia Alonso , Natalia Makarowa , Gelsey Kirkland , Carla Fracci , Alessandra Ferri and Alina Somova .
Well-known new interpretations of the subject come from Mats Ek (Cullberg Ballett, 1982), Arthur Mitchell (Dance Theater of Harlem, 1984), Marcia Haydée ( Stuttgart Ballet , 1989), Stephan Thoss (Kiel, 1999) and David Dawson ( Semperoper Ballett , 2008 ).
For the Bolshoi Ballet , Alexei Ratmansky developed a revised version after a thorough source study of the original documents from Justamant and Petipa / Stepanov , which was shown for the first time in 2019 and was also filmed. In this version, for the first time in a long time, the Fugue des Wilis ( Fugue for the Wilis) from Adam's original score could be heard and seen again, as well as some other Christian- religious allusions were reinserted long banned from ballet (during the Soviet era). Ratmansky also reinstated the finale with the appearance of Bathilde.
people
- Berthe, a winemaker
- Giselle, her daughter
- Hilarion, a gamekeeper
- Albrecht, a young nobleman who pretends to be a farmer Loys
- Wilfried, his servant
- Bathilde, Albrecht's fiancée
- Prince of the Palatinate, Bathilde's father
- Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis (mythical creatures adopted from Serbian folk songs through Heinrich Heine)
- a peasant couple (peasants-pas-de-deux)
- two Wilis
Winegrowers, Giselle's friends, the prince's hunting party, gamekeepers, Wilis
plot
To understand the story, it can be advantageous to know that until well into the 20th century , marriages arranged (not only) among nobles - and thus also engagements - were common for dynastic and / or financial reasons, but love marriages were very rare. The nineteenth-century public was of course aware of this. Therefore, although nowhere is it clearly stated, it is reasonable to assume that the betrothal between Albrecht and Bathilde is an arranged relationship.
Act 1: In a village
Giselle, a lovely girl, lives with her mother in a small village. The local forester Hilarion is in love with her, but she doesn't reciprocate his feelings.
Prince Albrecht, who is already engaged to the noble Bathilde, also loves Giselle. He disguises himself as a farmer and hides his sword (a sign of his nobility) in a shed so that he can be with Giselle and woo her.
Hilarion jealously watches Giselle fall in love and believes that she is engaged to Albrecht.
When some village girls arrive, Giselle dances with them, but Giselle's mother tries to stop her, fearing that her daughter might die and become one of those Wilis who lead young men to their doom between midnight and sunrise.
A noble hunting party comes by, including Bathilde (Albrecht's official fiancé) and her father. Albrecht withdraws so as not to be recognized. Bathilde befriends Giselle and gives her a necklace. To rest, the princess comes to Giselle's mother. The hunters move on.
Meanwhile, a village festival begins and the winemakers choose Giselle as their wine queen. The happy Giselle and Albrecht dance.
In the meantime, the jealous Hilarion has discovered Albrecht's sword and his true identity. At the height of the festival, he makes a scene and blows Albrecht's disguise. He tries to deny at first and to calm the shocked Giselle, but the forester calls Bathilde, her father and the hunters and Albrecht can no longer hide his true identity and his relationship with Bathilde. Giselle falls into complete despair, loses her mind ( insane scene ) and finally collapses dead. (Traditionally she dies of a broken heart, in some versions from the 20th century she throws herself in Albrecht's sword.)
Act 2: In a clearing
The guilty Hilarion visits Giselle's grave in the forest. When it approaches midnight and gets scary, he moves away.
The Wilis and her Queen Myrtha appear to take Giselle into their ranks. (Grand Pas des Wilis)
Enter Albrecht, bowed in grief by guilt and remorse. When he has a vision of Giselle's ghost, he follows her into the forest.
At the same time, Myrtha discovers Hilarion and dances with her Wilis until he dies of exhaustion.
When Myrtha finds Albrecht shortly afterwards, she also wants to force him to dance with the Wilis, but Giselle asks to spare him. Myrtha refuses, but Albrecht is protected by Giselle's love and is saved when the Wilis lose their power at dawn and have to withdraw. Giselle forgives him and dissolves in fog at dawn.
- End, version 1: Albrecht collapses at Giselle's grave.
- End, version 2: Giselle asks Albrecht before her final disappearance to marry Bathilde, and she appears in the clearing (historically original version of the 19th century; rarely realized today)
- End, version 3: Albrecht leaves the clearing alive but alone.
Interpretation of the figures
The character of the main characters involved was and is shown in different versions in very different ways. In the historical original and in the 19th century, Albrecht / Loys is personable and really in love with Giselle; Bathilde, his fiancée, is also a friendly lady who feels sympathy for Giselle. After the Russian Revolution, however, these two aristocratic figures were reinterpreted as selfish, haughty, ignoble characters for ideological reasons, while attempts were made to portray the jealous and destructive Hilarion as a noble figure among the people. This reinterpretation has also been partially adopted in the West, although it makes the overall course of the plot seem quite illogical.
Famous passages
Some parts of the work are particularly well-known and are presented in ballet evenings or in competitions regardless of the context of the piece:
- Giselle's solo from the 1st act
- The 12 bars during which the soloist hops over the entire diagonal of the stage on the same leg (temps levés sur pointe) are always an occasion for spontaneous applause . The music for the Pas seul was only added later, and comes from Riccardo Drigo's Fiametta from 1887 (not by Minkus, as is often assumed).
- the peasant pas-de-deux from Act 1
- The numerous battled jumps in the dancers' variations are particularly virtuoso .
- the Grand Pas de deux of Giselle and Albrecht from the 2nd act
- In order to portray the struggle for Albrecht's life in dance, more and more virtuoso leaps in variations and codas have been incorporated over the course of the work's history. So the dancer 30 entrechats six are required, a feat that rarely succeeds.
Film adaptations
- 1963: Giselle - Director: Enrique Pineda Barnet
- 1970: Giselle - Director: Hugo Niebeling with Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn
It also forms the framework for the films Life, a Whistle (La vida es silbar) by Fernando Pérez and Moscow, my love by Alexander Mitta . Individual scenes of the ballet can be seen in the French television series The Forbidden Door (1966).
The fourth episode of the anime Princess Tutu is also based on Giselle, with most of the music in the episode consisting of pieces of music from the ballet.
In the British documentary Bolshoi Ballet from 1957 - made during the Russian ballet's London guest performance - scenes from Giselle occupy the largest frame.
literature
- Serge Lifar : Giselle. Apothéose du Ballet Romantique. Paris 1942.
- Cyril W. Beaumont: The Ballet Called Giselle . London 1945, 1969.
- Frank-Manuel Peter , German Dance Archive Cologne (ed.): Giselle ou Les Wilis. Ballet Fantastique en deux actes. Facsimile of the notation by Henri Justamant from the 1860s. Supplemented by Therese von Artner Der Willi-Tanz. A Slavic folk tale from 1822. Olm, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York, NY 2008, ISBN 978-3-487-13830-5 .
- Howard Jacobson : Whatever It Is, I Don't Like It . Bloomsbury 2011, ISBN 978-1-408-82242-5 , pp. 79-82 “Giselle”.
Recordings
CD (selection)
- Adolphe Adam: Giselle , with the Orchester national de l ' Opéra de Monte-Carlo , Richard Bonynge , 1967 (Decca; 2 CDs) (complete recording with the Fugue des Wilis and the appearance of Bathilde in the finale of the 2nd act, which today almost always be deleted).
- Adolphe Adam: Giselle (+ Fr. Burgmüller: Pas des paysans) , with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden , Richard Bonynge, 1986 (Decca; 2 CDs) (complete recording in original orchestration, with the Fugue des Wilis and the appearance of Bathilde in the finale of the 2nd act).
Videos (selection)
- Adolphe Adam: Giselle (choreography by David Blair based on Coralli and Perrot), with Carla Fracci (Giselle), Erik Bruhn (Albrecht), Tony Lander (Myrtha), among others. American Ballet Theater , Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, cond .: John Lanchbery (Deutsche Grammophon / Unitel; DVD)
- Adolphe Adam: Giselle (choreography by Yuri Grigorovich based on Petipa / Perrot / Coralli), with Svetlana Lunkina (Giselle), Dmitri Gudanov (Albrecht), Maria Allash (Myrtha) and others, The Bolshoi Ballet , The Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, Dir .: Pavel Klinichev, 2012 (?) (Belair / Pathé)
- Adolphe Adam: Giselle (choreography by Peter Wright based on Petipa / Perrot / Coralli), with Natalia Osipova (Giselle), Carlos Acosta (Albrecht), Hikaru Kobayashi (Myrtha) and others, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House , cond .: Boris Gruzin, 2014 (Opus Arte; DVD)
- Adolphe Adam: Giselle (choreography by Peter Wright based on Petipa / Perrot / Coralli), with Marianela Nuñez (Giselle), Vadim Muntagirov (Albrecht), Itziar Mendizabal (Myrtha) and others, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, cond .: Barry Wordsworth , 2016 (Opus Arte; DVD)
Web links
- Giselle on the website of the Marius Petipa Society (English; accessed November 26, 2020)
- Excerpt from Giselle - danced by the Russian National Ballet (video)
- Information on Giselle with a detailed description of the libretto
- Article of the magazine Oper & Tanz
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Giselle on the website of the Marius Petipa Society (English; accessed on November 26, 2020)
- ↑ Section Peasant Pas de deux , in: Giselle on the website of the Marius Petipa Society (English; accessed on November 28, 2020)
- ↑ a b c Marina Harss: Bolshoi Ballet - Giselle (Ratmansky premiere) - Moscow , November 24, 2019, review of the version by Ratmansky in the Bolshoi Theater 2019 (English; accessed on November 26, 2020)
- ↑ Interview with Alexei Ratmansky in the last 10 minutes of the film: Giselle 2nd act , version by Ratmansky (2019) with the Bolshoi Ballet, with Olga Smirnova (Giselle) and Artemy Belyakov (Albrecht / Loys), Bolshoi Theater, Moscow , 2020 (TV broadcast by Pathé / Belair on Youtube; accessed on November 26, 2020)
- ↑ Giselle Act 2 , version by Ratmansky (2019) with the Bolshoi Ballet, with Olga Smirnova (Giselle) and Artemy Belyakov (Albrecht / Loys), Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, 2020 (YouTube video; accessed on November 26th 2020)
- ↑ Biofilmografía de Enrique Pineda Barnet. In: Ibermedia Digital. August 17, 2015, Retrieved July 28, 2019 (Spanish).
- ↑ Giselle. In: IMDb. Retrieved July 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Giselle. Accessed July 19, 2020 .