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Saved by The Soul of An Innocent Paris
Palais Garnier
05/02/2024 - & May 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16*, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 31, June 1, 2024
Giselle
Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot (choreography), Patrice Bart, Eugène Polyakov (adaptation), Adolphe Adam (music)
Bleuenn Battistoni*/Sae‑Eun Park/Inès McIntosh/Marianela Nunez/Hannah O’Neill/Myriam Ould‑Braham (Giselle), Guillaume Diop/Germain Louvet/Hugo Marchand/Paul Marque/Marc Moreau*/Andrea Sarri (Albrecht), Camille Bon*/Héloïse Bourdon/Valentine Colasante/Clara Mousseigne/Silvia Saint‑Martin/Roxane Stojanov (Myrtha), Margaux Gaudy-Talazac* (Bathilde), Antonio Conforti/Alexandre Labrot*/Florimond Lorieux/Cyril Mitilian/Jérémy‑Loup Quer/Arthus Raveau (Hilarion), Cyril Mitilian* (Duke of Courland), Marine Ganio/Saki Kuwabara/Hortense Millet-Maurin*/Elizabeth Partington/Luna Peigné/Luciana Sagioro/Nine Seropian, Nicola Di Vico*/Manuel Garrido/Aurélien Gay/Jack Gasztowtt/Lorenzo Lelli/Andrea Sarri/Rubens Simon (Two peasants), Anémone Arnaud* (Berthe), Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris
Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, Patrick Lange (conductor)
Alexandre Benois (sets), Silvano Mattei (recreation of sets), Alexandre Benois (costumes), Claudie Gastine (recreation of costumes)
B. Battistoni, M. Moreau (© Julien Benhamou/Opéra national de Paris)
The quintessential romantic ballet, Giselle is for a ballerina the Everest of roles. More than any other role, Giselle features two idealized aspects of femininity, the innocence of the village girl (Act I) and an ethereal quality when Giselle is transformed into a Wili, a vengeful spirit of a girl forsaken by her lover and who dies due to his perfidy (Act II).
The story of Giselle was inspired by a fairytale in De l’Allemagne (1822), an exposé of Germany, its customs and traditions including some of its legends, written by the Romantic German poet Heinrich Heine (1797‑1856). The tale was subsequently adapted, eventually becoming the story for the ballet Giselle by the poet and dramatist Théophile Gautier (1811‑1872).
Giselle, a naive village girl who loves to dance despite her frailty, is seduced by the peasant Loys, actually the flirtatious Albrecht Duke of Silesia in disguise, who is already engaged to a lady of his rank. Hilarion, gamekeeper and Giselle’s aspiring suitor, is suspicious of the stranger. When he discovers Albrecht’s fancy sword hidden in a neighbouring hut, he confronts the incredulous Giselle and the cowardly Albrecht. He then blows the hunting horn to summon the hunting party of nobles, including Albrecht’s betrothed. Upon realizing she’s been duped, Giselle is bewildered, and dances haggardly in what resembles a “mad scene,” typical of bel canto operas. Grief stricken and exhausted, she collapses, dead from a weak heart strained by excessive dancing and Albrecht’s cruel duplicity.
One of the pillars of Romanticism is “horror,” or the supernatural, as expressed in the writings of E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776‑1822), Adelbert von Chamisso (1781‑1838), Lord Byron (1788‑1824), Mary Shelley (1797‑1851), Edgar Allan Poe (1809‑1849) and others. Act II of Giselle is the supernatural act, in which Giselle is transformed into a Wili, an undead nocturnal creature, as in German folklore, itself derived from Slavic sources.
Giselle is a sort of companion to Amina from Bellini’s La sonnambula (1831). This may be confusing, as the former is a ballet and the latter an opera. While the ballet ends with the tragic death of Giselle from a broken heart, in the opera Amina survives the heart-shattering scene “Ah non credea mirarti” and the perilous sleepwalking, only to be joyously awakened by a remorseful Elvino. Yet both heroines are wronged by their beloved one. More importantly, both are the quintessence of fragility and innocence. Premiered ten years after Bellini’s first huge success, it’s more than likely that Giselle’s composer was influenced by the fragile operatic heroine. Early Romanticism was often centered around helpless, wronged heroines, and the redemption of men by women. More than any other ballet, Giselle mimics operatic bel canto.
The other progenitor of Giselle is La Sylphide (1832), a ballet that transformed the art form. Though the sylph, a fairy of the forest, was the seducer rather than the seduced, she equally meets a tragic fate. Both La Sylphide and Giselle introduced an innovation that marked and transformed ballet. Just as bel canto operas were centered around a vulnerable heroine, so too were these two early romantic ballets. In pre‑romantic ballet, male dancers were at least as prominent as female ones.
The phenomenal Marie Taglioni (1804‑1884), creator of La Sylphide, was the first female ballerina to dance an entire ballet en pointe. Choreographed by her father, the dancer Philippe Taglioni, the moves were meant to favour his daughter’s particular physique: long arms and legs, short stature and unusual athletic capacity to jump with fluidity and elegance (élévation). This new dancing style for a female dancer, giving a much admired ethereal quality, was the one adopted by Carlotta Grisi (1819‑1899), creator of Giselle. Astonishingly, Carlotta Grisi was the cousin of none other than sisters mezzo Giuditta Grisi and soprano Giulia Grisi, creators of several bel canto roles by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini.
Giselle was created in Paris but became internationally renowned following its adoption in 1884 by French expatriate Marius Petipa, maître de ballet at the Imperial Russian Court for the Mariinsky Theatre. Since then, it has remained among the most cherished ballets in the repertoire, and every ballerina’s dream role.
Experiencing Giselle in the city where it premiered, and at the exquisite Palais Garnier, one of the world’s most beautiful opera houses, was especially memorable. The present production is a recreation of the 1924 production by Coralli & Perrot, with sets and costumes by the famed Alexandre Benois. The sets may be slightly faded but this in fact added to its charm and authenticity.
At twenty-five, Bleuenn Battistoni stars as Giselle, in her first role since her elevation to danseuse étoile, though she performed the role in 2022 as a last‑minute replacement of an ailing dancer. Battistoni is the ideal Giselle: elegant, stylish and endowed with a mastery of technique. She was especially touching in her flirtation scene with Albrecht, posing as the peasant Loys. Credible as an ingénue, she avoided being a simpleton, as some productions revert to. In such a case, Albrecht isn’t simply a spoiled nobleman having fun, unaware of the damage he is causing, but a true beast preying on an intellectually challenged pretty girl. Battistoni impressed with her fluidity and high jumps, both requisites for the role. Her mad scene, though technically assured, could have been more intensely dramatic.
Marc Moreau, portraying Albrecht, is a more mature dancer. The marked age difference would make him seem more a predator than a playful young suitor. However, his aristocratic deportment gave him an allure of natural nobility that made the character appear sympathetic. This made his transformation in Act II into a remorseful man more credible. Perhaps this Albrecht’s wooing of Giselle was sincere and his obligation to marry a noblewoman a burden. In Act I, his pas de deux with Giselle was too elegant to be a peasant dance.
In Act II, Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, comes to Giselle’s grave to claim the girl’s soul as one of her goulish followers. The marble‑like rigidity of Myrtha and her army of Wilis sharply contrasted with the cheerful and energetic peasants in Act I. Camille Bon was an appropriately stern Myrtha. Act II is known as the “white act” due to Myrtha, the Wilis and Giselle’s spirit being dressed in white tutus against the dark background of the nocturnal forest. The grim forest, the marble‑like Wilis and the lighting all evoked a truly Gothic atmosphere.
At Myrtha’s mercy, Marc Moreau displayed impressive athleticism in his high jumps. His altitude and his elegant landings are essential to this demanding scene, one of the most challenging in the repertoire for male dancers. The implacable Queen of the Wilis will not relent and intends to kill him by making him dance to death.
The kind spirit of Giselle manages to slow down the maneuvers until dawn arrives and Albrecht is saved from death. By her forgiveness, Giselle proves her love was true and everlasting. More importantly, by saving Albrecht, she is saved from becoming a Wili.
The audience, encompassing a large contingent of tourists as well as young people, possibly dancers, erupted in rapturous applause at the end of the terrifically executed performance. Deservedly, Marc Moreau and Bleuenn Battistoni were received most enthusiastically. L’Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris under the baton of Patrick Lange played exceptionally well, and were also the recipients of grateful applause.
Ossama el Naggar
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