Giselle

Opera & Ballet 2024-2025

Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam

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More trust is to placed in daisies than in men—or so might be the moral of the story Giselle, a masterwork of romantic ballet. Composed by Adolphe Adam in 1841, the work would immediately become one of the most popular ballets for audiences and dancers alike. If only the title character Giselle, a beautiful young peasant girl, had believed in the outcome of her game of “He loves me, he loves me not,” her tragic fate would have been different, as she would have understood that her beloved Albrecht was deceiving her. Instead, when she discovers her paramour is betrothed to a noblewoman, her heartbreak proves too much for her. She dies, but her ghost is called to join those of other betrayed maidens, the Wilis, supernatural creatures who haunt the forests and compel men to dance till their death. Albrecht may become yet another of their victims.


One of the secrets of Giselle’s huge success is its exquisite scoring. Adam created very different musical atmospheres for the two acts—lively dances for Act I, set during the festivities for the harvest season; a more ethereal, nocturnal music for the diaphanous Wilis of Act II. A series of leitmotifs recur throughout the opera, catchy musical phrases that are easy to identify, lending greater cohesion to the work. A timeless popular classic, Giselle is performed by the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet in the production by Aleksej Fadeečev, which takes up and reworks the historical choreography, technically very challenging. The watercolours of the backdrops lend the sets the delicate charm of poetry, fully in keeping with the nineteenth-century tradition.
 

Tbilisi Opera Ballet

Artistic director: Nina Ananiashvili

Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot e Marius Petipa choreography
Aleksej Fadeečev e Nina Ananiashvili choreographic version
Papuna Gvaberidze conductor
Viačeslav Okunev sets and costumes
Paul Vidar Saevarang lighting
Tat’jana Rastorgueva assistants to choreography

Main characters and performers
Giselle: Nino Samadashvili (12, 14a, 17) / Tomone Kagawa (13a, 15, 18) / Maria Kochetkova (13e, 14e)
Prince Albrecht: Oleg Ligai (12, 14a, 17) / Masaaki Goto (13a, 15, 18) / Daniil Simkina (13e, 14e)
Hans - David Ananeli (12, 14a, 17) / Efe Burak (13p, 13s, 14, 15, 18) / 
Myrtha - Mari Lomjaria (12, 13e, 14 s) / Elene Gaganidze (13p, 15, 18) / Salome Iarajuli (14p, 17) 

Soloists and corps de ballet of the Tbilisi Opera Ballet
Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino

Lecture: Wednesday 11 December at 6 pm - Sala del Caminetto (together with Lo Schiaccianoci)

Ballet in two acts

Music by Adolphe-Charles Adam
Libretto by Théophile Gautier e Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
Coreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot e Marius Petipa
World première:
Paris, Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique,
Indicative duration
140'

Performances

Location: Teatro Regio Full calendar

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-12 20:00:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-13 14:30:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-13 20:00:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-14 14:30:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-14 20:00:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-15 15:00:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-17 20:00:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Opera & Ballet
Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam
2024-12-18 20:00:00 Europe/Rome Giselle | Adolphe-Charles Adam di | Adolphe-Charles Adam Teatro Regio di Torino Teatro Regio di Torino

Synopsis

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The ballet opens on a sunny autumnal morning in the Rhineland during the Middle Ages. The grape harvest is in progress. Duke Albrecht of Silesia, a young nobleman, has fallen in love with a shy, beautiful peasant girl named Giselle, despite being engaged to Bathilde, the Duke of Courland's daughter. He disguises himself as a humble villager called "Loys" to court the enchanting and innocent Giselle, who knows nothing of his true identity. With the help of his squire, he hides his fine attire, hunting horn, and sword before coaxing her out of her house to romance her as the harvest festivities begin.

Hilarion, a local gamekeeper, is also in love with Giselle and is highly suspicious of the newcomer who has won her affections. He tries to convince her that her beau can not be trusted, but she ignores his warnings. Her mother, Berthe, is very protective of her, as she has a weak heart that leaves her in delicate health. She discourages a relationship between Giselle and Loys, thinking Hilarion would be a better match, and disapproves of her fondness for dancing, due to the strain on her heart.

A party of noblemen seeking refreshment following the rigors of the hunt arrive in the village with Bathilde among them. Albrecht hurries away, knowing he would be recognized and greeted by her, exposing him as a nobleman. The villagers welcome the party, offer them drinks, and perform several dances.[4][5] Bathilde is charmed with Giselle's sweet and demure nature, not knowing of her relationship with Albrecht. Giselle is honored when Bathilde offers her a necklace as a gift before the group of nobles depart.

The villagers continue the harvest festivities, and Albrecht emerges again to dance with Giselle, who is named the Harvest Queen. Hilarion interrupts the festivities. He has discovered Albrecht's finely made sword and presents it as proof that he is really a nobleman who is engaged to another woman. Using Albrecht's hunting horn, Hilarion calls back the party of noblemen. Albrecht has no time to hide and has no choice but to greet Bathilde as his fiancée. All are shocked by the revelation, but none more than Giselle, who becomes inconsolable when faced with his deception. Knowing that they can never be together, she flies into a mad fit of grief in which all the tender moments she shared with Loys flash before her eyes. She begins to dance wildly and erratically, ultimately causing her weak heart to give out. She collapses and dies in Albrecht's arms. Hilarion and Albrecht turn on each other in rage before Albrecht flees the scene in misery. The curtain closes as Berthe weeps over her Giselle's body.

In the original version, taken up again recently by a production of the ROB, Giselle stabs herself with Albrecht's sword, which explains why her body is laid to rest in the forest, in unhallowed ground, where the Wilis have the power to summon her. Most modern versions are sanitized and have edited out the suicide.

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Late at night, Hilarion mourns at Giselle's forest grave, but is frightened away by the arrival of the Wilis, the ghostly spirits of maidens betrayed by their lovers. Many were abandoned on their wedding days, and all died of broken hearts. They, led by their merciless queen, Myrtha, dance and haunt the forest at night to exact their revenge on any man they encounter, regardless of who he may be, forcing their victims to dance until they die of exhaustion.

Myrtha and the Wilis rouse Giselle's spirit from her grave and induct her into their clan before disappearing into the forest. Albrecht arrives to lay flowers on Giselle's grave and he weeps with guilt over her death. Her spirit appears and he begs her forgiveness. She, her love undiminished unlike her vengeful sisters, gently forgives him. She disappears to join the rest of the Wilis and Albrecht desperately follows her.

Meanwhile, the Wilis have cornered a terrified Hilarion. They use their magic to force him to dance until he is nearly dead, and then drown him in a nearby lake. Then they spy Albrecht, and turn on him, sentencing him to death as well. He pleads to Myrtha for his life, but she coldly refuses. Giselle's pleas are also dismissed and he is forced to dance until sunrise.[6] However, the power of Giselle's love counters the Wilis' magic and spares his life. The other spirits return to their graves at daybreak, but Giselle has broken through the chains of hatred and vengeance that control the Wilis, and is thus released from their powers and will haunt the forest no more. After bidding a tender farewell to Albrecht, she returns to her grave to rest in peace. 

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