About the work
Adolphe Adam's „Giselle" — full title „Giselle, ou Les Wilis" — was premiered at the Paris Opéra in 1841. Théophile Gautier's libretto, based on a Slavic legend recounted by Heinrich Heine, fuses Romanticism and the supernatural and is considered the most perfect Romantic ballet.
Plot
In a Rhineland village the cheerful but heart-weak peasant girl Giselle loves a young man called „Loys" — in truth the nobleman Albrecht, Count of Silesia, in disguise. Albrecht is secretly engaged to Bathilde, daughter of the Duke. The gamekeeper Hilarion, who loves Giselle himself, sees through the masquerade. At the grape harvest a hunting party arrives with Bathilde; Hilarion reveals Albrecht's identity and engagement. Giselle, overwhelmed by shock and her illness, falls into the famous mad scene and dies before Albrecht's eyes. The second act in the moonlit forest: the wilis — spirits of girls who died before their weddings — force every man entering the forest at night to dance to his death. Hilarion is danced to death. Albrecht appears in remorse at Giselle's grave. Queen Myrtha condemns him too, but Giselle's ghost protects him all night through dance, until dawn dispels the wilis. Giselle forgives Albrecht and returns to the grave; Albrecht is left alone.
Cultural significance
Giselle is the paradigmatic Romantic ballet — the fusion of love, death and supernatural redemption shapes the entire „white act" tradition. Carlotta Grisi danced the premiere; Olga Spessivtseva, Galina Ulanova, Alicia Markova, Natalia Makarova and Sylvie Guillem have shaped readings over 180 years. Mats Ek's 1982 production with the mad scene set in a psychiatric ward and Akram Khan's 2016 version are modern reinterpretations that keep the work productive in the twenty-first century.