Giselle

SYNOPSIS
Act I

A village between the hills, at a forest’s edge. The people prepare for the vine’s harvesting celebrations. Joyful girls and boys are passing in front of the house where Giselle and her mother, Bertha, live.  Hans, the forester, is in love with Giselle and goes to her house thinking he would meet her. He wants to knock on the door, but he changes his mind in the last moment and lets a flowers’ bouquet in the window, as promise for a later visit.

Prince Albert arrives with his squire, Wilfried. The prince is dressed up in simple clothes in order not to draw attention. He is looking for Giselle as well, to whom he was introduced as a common person. When hunting, he lets his cloak and sword in a nearby hut in order to hide his nobility. But Hans witnesses it all.

Wilfried advises him in vain to be careful, because Albert asks him to leave. Left alone, he knocks at Giselle’s door. The girl shows up, and a warm feeling of love springs between the two. Seeing each other is bliss and their dance is full of passion. Albert declares his commitment and offers her daisies. Giselle plays with them “he loves me, he loves me not” until his love confirms in this naïve way as well.

Forester Hans returns and he declares his love, but the girl rejects him. Albert interferes and chases Hans away. Humiliated, Hans seeks for revenge.

Giselle’s friends return from the vine harvesting and she introduces Albert to them as her fiancée. Happy, they all start to dance. Giselle’s mother is worried because her daughter dances despite her heart condition. But Giselle is now fearless, she’s too happy to consider her health above love. Bertha grabs her daughter’s hand and drags her inside the house, leaving Albert disgruntled, heading back to the woods.

Hunting horns can be heard far, from distance. Wilfried, the Count and Bathilda, the prince’s fiancée, are part of the hunting convoy. They knock on the door of the first house that comes their way, Giselle’s. Bertha welcomes them and her daughter helps her set the table for the guests. Giselle admires Bathilda’s elegance. Affable, Bathilda chats with the young peasant girl who declares that she loves to dance. To her mother’s displease, Giselle demonstrates her talent. Bathilda is delighted and, thanking for the wonderful dance, she offers her a golden necklace. Giselle confesses to her new friend that she’s in love with a beautiful young man with whom she’s engaged. Then the guests go to rest and Wilfried is sent looking for the prince.

The youth of the village meets again and continue the party. Among them is also Giselle who, recklessly, dances. Willing to revenge and to show the girl she’s been cheated, Hans brings the prince’s sword from the hut, telling everybody to whom it belongs. Albert tries to calm down his beloved, but can’t deny Hans’ words. The forester violently attacks him and only Wilfried’s intervention avoids a possible tragedy. Hans rushes to blow the hunting horn. When hearing it, the courts’ men come out of Bertha’s house and, recognizing Albert, respectfully bend before him. Giselle approaches Bathilda and asks her for the truth. Indeed, she points out for Albert to be her betrothal. Giselle loses her minds; she rips off the necklace and throws it down. Among sobs and unconscious laughs, she remembers the good times she had with the prince. He tries hopelessly to convince her of the truthfulness of his love. Giselle forgives him with a last gesture and then falls down to ground, breathless. Her mother and her friends immediately gather around her still body, while Albert and Hans blame each other for the disaster. The latter tries one more time to kill the prince, but again Wilfried stops him. Albert desperately throws himself next to the lifeless body.

Act II

The village’s graveyard. In the silence of the night Hans comes to Giselle’s grave to mourn his lost, but frightened by the strange noises and lights surrounding the place, he runs away. An eerie figure appears: it’s Myrtha, the wicked fairies’ queen. Midnight calls the time for her to arise from the deepness of the graves her followers, the heartbroken souls of unmarried girls. Giselle as well arises from the dark, dressed in white; she had become a wicked fairy. Together with her new sisters she disappears in the darkness of the forest.

Albert is looking for Giselle’s grave. Destroyed, he kneels at his beloved’s resting place. Before his eyes, her spirit comes and goes. The two of them dance together, but he can’t hold on her. Stuck into this mysterious dance, the couple is drawn into the woods.

Meanwhile the wicked fairies chase Hans and, after making him dance to exhaustion, they throw him into the lake. This is how the spirits’ judgment had completed for Hans, and now they head looking for the other guilty man.

Albert is found and brought to the grave from which Giselle had risen. Kneeling in front of Myrtha, Albert begs for forgiveness. Seeing her immovable, Gisells pleads for the one she used to love. But Myrtha remains firm and asks Giselle to dance with him. Powered by love, Albert holds on until when, far away, morning bells are heard.

The sun rises and the wicked fairies, losing their powers, disappear. After a last touch and a goodbye look, Giselle returns to her resting place. The image of the woman he loved carves in Albert’s memory. He hugs the cold ground with eternal remorse.