Giselle
Adolphe Adam / Louise Farrenc / Martin Chaix
New production by the Opéra national du Rhin.
A romantic ballet in two acts.
Music by Adolphe Adam.
Premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on 28 June 1841.
Additional music by Louise Farrenc.
Infos
Colmar
Théâtre municipal de Colmar
Mulhouse
La Sinne
Strasbourg
Opéra
Piece for the entire company.
Duration: 2hr including interval.
With the support of Fidelio.
Cast
Choreography Martin Chaix Music Adolphe Adam, Louise Farrenc Music Director Sora Elisabeth Lee Dramaturg Martin Chaix, Ulrike Wörner von Faßmann Musical Dramaturg Martin Chaix Decor Thomas Mika Costumes Catherine Voeffray Lighting Tom Klefstad CCN • Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin, Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse
Presentation
Can a person dance to death? Not according to Giselle, who spends her days dancing. She dances when she is happy. She dances when she is sad. She dances to celebrate her love for the young and beautiful Loys. But when Giselle discovers that Loys is in fact Duke Albrecht and betrothed to another woman, she goes mad with grief and dances until her weak heart gives out. The following night, Giselle’s spirit is roused from the dead by Myrtha, who leads the band of Wilis—maidens betrayed by their lovers and abandoned before their wedding days, who in death extract their revenge by forcing the men they encounter to dance until they die of exhaustion.
After its premiere in Paris in 1841 with librettists Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, Giselle became over the years an essential classic of the romantic repertoire choreographed by some of the most legendary ballet masters. For the Ballet of the OnR, Martin Chaix serves up a resolutely contemporary interpretation that chimes with current issues. Gone are the tutus, wedding dresses and pasteboard cottages: the characters in this feminist Giselle dance in biker jackets and tuxedos in an urban setting but no less passionately to the music composed by Adolphe Adam and his contemporary Louise Farrenc.
