Libretto by Théophile Gautier, Jean Coralie, Henri Saint-Georges

First performance: 28 June 1841, Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music - Paris.

First performance in Bulgaria: 19 December 1947, Sofia Opera, conductor - Konstantin Iliev, choreography - Anastas Petrov, set and costume design - Neva and Nikola Tusuzovi.

First performance in Ruse: 14 June 1958, conductor - Boris Khinchev, choreographer - Assen Manolov, artist - Lidia Jovanescu

Main characters:

Giselle - a young girl

Albert - an aristocrat posing as a peasant

Hans is a forester

Myrtle - the queen of the villis

Pair of villis

Vilis, peasants, aristocrats.

Short synopsis:

First act

The young and beautiful peasant Giselle is in love with dancing. Unexpectedly, she sees the nobleman Duke Albert of Silesia, who has disguised himself as a peasant and introduces himself as Lois. The Duke is about to marry Princess Bathilde, but he decides to flirt with Giselle anyway. She falls hopelessly in love with him and begins to dance in his honour. The game keeper Hans, who is in love with Giselle, is disturbed by her love for the stranger. He warns her, but Giselle won't listen to him. Albert and Giselle dance a love duet, which is interrupted by Giselle's mother. She worries about her daughter's fragile health and sends her home.

Trumpets are heard and hunters appear, including Albert's fiancée Bathilde and her father. Soon the guard Hans discovers the truth that Lois is actually Albert, Duke of Silesia, and shares this with Giselle. Learning the truth, Giselle loses her wits and falls lifeless.

Second act

Night near Giselle's grave. Hans the keeper is here. He is mourning the death of his beloved Giselle. Albert, who is looking for Giselle's grave, also appears. Visions appear - ghosts of maidens, and with them their queen, Myrtle. These visions begin to torment Hans and Albert. Giselle is now also part of the visions and emerges from her grave. Albert sets out to hunt down Giselle's vision, but it disappears into the forest. In the meantime, Hans is haunted by the remaining ghosts. They throw him into a nearby lake, where he dies. The ghosts then surround Albert, wanting to kill him as well. He begs for forgiveness, but Myrtle, their queen, is adamant. They want to punish him with the curse of him dancing without stopping for the rest of his days. Giselle has already forgiven him for lying and saves him from the rest of the visions. As morning falls, they return to their graves. By the power of her love, Giselle has saved Albert.

History of creation

"Giselle is the apotheosis of romantic ballet. The librettists were inspired by a legend of the poet Heinrich Heine. The first performance of Giselle took place on 28 June 1841 at the theatre of the Royal Academy of Music in Paris.

The first performance of Giselle at the Rousse Opera took place on 14 June 1958. The conductor was Boris Khinchev, the choreographer - Assen Manolov, and the artist - Lidia Jovanescu.

Giselle next premiered on 23 December 1975. The conductor was Ivan Filev, the choreographer - Peter Lukanov, the artist - Natasha Khrennikova.

The third Ruse premiere of Giselle was on 30 May 2006, when the choreography was again by Petar Lukanov.