Ballet: Giselle - Schedule, Program & Tickets
Ballet: Giselle
Choreography by Elena Tschernischova after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa
CONTENT
The poet Heinrich Heine recounts the legend of the mysterious Wilis, those young women who must die before their wedding because their love was betrayed. An unbridled passion for dance continues to beat in their dead hearts. As ghosts, they leave their graves at night – and should a living person approach them during this time, they dance them to death.
In 1841, Adolphe Adam composed a ballet score based on this subject for the Paris Opera Ballet, which is considered one of the major works of Romanticism. Experience it with the Vienna State Ballet in a version created for Vienna by Elena Tschernischova in 1993, which features an original color concept: Against a backdrop of gray tones, the actors stand out in bright colors. With over 80 performances, the work, whose premiere with Brigitte Stadler and Vladimir Malakhov, as well as an outstanding ensemble performance, is one of the highlights of recent Viennese ballet history, and remains a "calling card" for the company to this day.
Act 1
Giselle is different from the peasant girls in her village. She lives fatherless with her mother Berthe, is more sensitive than her friends, and possessed by a dangerous passion for dancing. The adventurous Duke Albrecht mingles with the people disguised as a peasant. Fascinated by Giselle's innocent beauty, he courts her. Giselle falls in love with the stranger. They confess their feelings to each other.
Hilarion, a gamekeeper who has long had his eye on Giselle, observes the events with suspicion and jealousy.
Giselle encourages the winegrowers to dance. She ignores her mother's warnings, who tells her of the fate of the Wilis – those brides who were betrayed before their wedding and henceforth condemned to dance every night as undead under the spell of their queen, Myrtha.
A hunting party stops in the village, led by the Duke of Courland and his daughter Bathilde, Albrecht's fiancée. Giselle's house is well known to the Duke, as it was the hideout of a love affair with Berthe. Only with her does he share the secret of their daughter Giselle's true origins. Enchanted by Bathilde's charm, he allows Giselle to give Giselle a precious necklace.
The winegrowers celebrate the harvest and crown Giselle Wine Queen. Meanwhile, Hilarion discovers Albrecht's sword, adorned with the ducal coat of arms. He exposes Albrecht's deceitful disguise in front of the assembled hunting party. But Albrecht, in need of an explanation to Bathilde, resorts to the excuse that his approach to Giselle was merely a capricious joke.
Giselle, stunned by the betrayal of her feelings, loses her mind and dies.
Act 2
Hilarion seeks Giselle's grave in the forest. At midnight, will-o'-the-wisps begin a dance. Hilarion flees in horror. The Wili Queen Myrtha awakens her retinue. Giselle, too, emerges from her grave, following the magical call. She is accepted into the Wilis community.
Duke Albrecht, in deep grief, visits Giselle's grave. Giselle repeatedly appears to him as a ghost bride, but he is unable to capture her.
Hilarion could not escape the Wilis' sphere of power. They pursue him and exact their revenge: Like any man who strays into their territory after midnight, they dance him to death.
Giselle begs for mercy for Albrecht. Myrtha orders her to lure Albrecht away from her grave. Her ruse to remove Albrecht from the protection of the Holy Cross seems to be working: Albrecht is unable to resist Giselle's dance. But Giselle's love, which even death could not harm, gives him such strength that he manages to endure the dance until dawn.
With sunrise, the Wilis' power fades. Giselle, too, returns to her grave. Albrecht is left alone.
Musical Direction
Luciano Di Martino
Choreography and Direction
Elena Tschernischova
Music
Adolphe Adam
with an interlude by
Friedrich Burgmüller
Libretto
Théophile Gautier, Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges & Jean Coralli after Heinrich Heine
Stage Design
Ingolf Bruun
Costumes
Clarisse Praun-Maylunas
Subject to change.
CONTENT
The poet Heinrich Heine recounts the legend of the mysterious Wilis, those young women who must die before their wedding because their love was betrayed. An unbridled passion for dance continues to beat in their dead hearts. As ghosts, they leave their graves at night – and should a living person approach them during this time, they dance them to death.
In 1841, Adolphe Adam composed a ballet score based on this subject for the Paris Opera Ballet, which is considered one of the major works of Romanticism. Experience it with the Vienna State Ballet in a version created for Vienna by Elena Tschernischova in 1993, which features an original color concept: Against a backdrop of gray tones, the actors stand out in bright colors. With over 80 performances, the work, whose premiere with Brigitte Stadler and Vladimir Malakhov, as well as an outstanding ensemble performance, is one of the highlights of recent Viennese ballet history, and remains a "calling card" for the company to this day.
Act 1
Giselle is different from the peasant girls in her village. She lives fatherless with her mother Berthe, is more sensitive than her friends, and possessed by a dangerous passion for dancing. The adventurous Duke Albrecht mingles with the people disguised as a peasant. Fascinated by Giselle's innocent beauty, he courts her. Giselle falls in love with the stranger. They confess their feelings to each other.
Hilarion, a gamekeeper who has long had his eye on Giselle, observes the events with suspicion and jealousy.
Giselle encourages the winegrowers to dance. She ignores her mother's warnings, who tells her of the fate of the Wilis – those brides who were betrayed before their wedding and henceforth condemned to dance every night as undead under the spell of their queen, Myrtha.
A hunting party stops in the village, led by the Duke of Courland and his daughter Bathilde, Albrecht's fiancée. Giselle's house is well known to the Duke, as it was the hideout of a love affair with Berthe. Only with her does he share the secret of their daughter Giselle's true origins. Enchanted by Bathilde's charm, he allows Giselle to give Giselle a precious necklace.
The winegrowers celebrate the harvest and crown Giselle Wine Queen. Meanwhile, Hilarion discovers Albrecht's sword, adorned with the ducal coat of arms. He exposes Albrecht's deceitful disguise in front of the assembled hunting party. But Albrecht, in need of an explanation to Bathilde, resorts to the excuse that his approach to Giselle was merely a capricious joke.
Giselle, stunned by the betrayal of her feelings, loses her mind and dies.
Act 2
Hilarion seeks Giselle's grave in the forest. At midnight, will-o'-the-wisps begin a dance. Hilarion flees in horror. The Wili Queen Myrtha awakens her retinue. Giselle, too, emerges from her grave, following the magical call. She is accepted into the Wilis community.
Duke Albrecht, in deep grief, visits Giselle's grave. Giselle repeatedly appears to him as a ghost bride, but he is unable to capture her.
Hilarion could not escape the Wilis' sphere of power. They pursue him and exact their revenge: Like any man who strays into their territory after midnight, they dance him to death.
Giselle begs for mercy for Albrecht. Myrtha orders her to lure Albrecht away from her grave. Her ruse to remove Albrecht from the protection of the Holy Cross seems to be working: Albrecht is unable to resist Giselle's dance. But Giselle's love, which even death could not harm, gives him such strength that he manages to endure the dance until dawn.
With sunrise, the Wilis' power fades. Giselle, too, returns to her grave. Albrecht is left alone.
Musical Direction
Luciano Di Martino
Choreography and Direction
Elena Tschernischova
Music
Adolphe Adam
with an interlude by
Friedrich Burgmüller
Libretto
Théophile Gautier, Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges & Jean Coralli after Heinrich Heine
Stage Design
Ingolf Bruun
Costumes
Clarisse Praun-Maylunas
Subject to change.