Productions

Ballet by Adolphe Adam in 2 acts

Composer Adolphe Adam
Libretto by Théophile Gautier ja Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
Choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrault, Marius Petipa
Choreography edited by Leonid Lavrovsky

Learning that Albrecht, her beloved, is in fact a nobleman engaged to be married to a princess, the naive peasant girl Giselle dies. The Queen of the Wilis—the spirits of deceased young virgins—decides that Albrecht should follow Giselle to the grave …

First performed in 1841, Giselle was an immediate hit. With music by Adolphe Adam and a libretto by Théophile Gautierand and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, the ballet touches on the great romantic themes: pastoral scenery and doomed love affair, a plunge into fantasy and redemption through the power of love.