Giselle: Difference between revisions

'''''Giselle''''' ({{IPAc-en|dʒ|ɪ|ˈ|z|ɛ|l}};<ref>{{Dictionary.com|Giselle}}</ref> {{IPA-|fr|ʒizɛl|lang}}), originally titled '''''Giselle, ou les Wilis''''' ({{IPA-|fr|ʒizɛl u le vili|lang}}, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a [[romantic ballet]] ("[[w:{{lang|fr:ballet-pantomime|ballet-pantomime]]"}})<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Greskovic|2005|p=304}}</ref> in two acts with music by [[Adolphe Adam]]. Considered a masterwork in the [[classical ballet]] performance canon, it was first performed by the [[Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique]] at the [[Salle Le Peletier]] in [[Paris]] on 28 June 1841, with Italian ballerina [[Carlotta Grisi]] as Giselle. It was an unqualified triumph. It became hugely popular and was staged at once across Europe, Russia, and the United States.

[[Jean Coralli]] and [[Jules Perrot]] created the original [[choreography]]. The role of Giselle was created for Carlotta Grisi as her debut piece for the Paris public, and she was the only [[ballerina]] to dance it at the [[Paris Opera]] for many years. The traditional choreography that has been passed down to the present day derives primarily from the revivals staged by [[Marius Petipa]] during the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the [[Imperial Ballet]] in [[St.Saint Petersburg]]. One of the world's most-often performed classical ballets, it is also one of the most challenging to dance.<ref>Kirstein, Lincoln (1984). ''Four Centuries of Ballet: Fifty Masterworks''. Dover Publications. {{ISBN|0-486-24631-0}}.</ref>

The ballet opens on a sunny autumnal morning in the [[Rhineland]] during the [[Middle Ages]]. The grape harvest is in progress. Duke Albrecht of [[Silesia]], a young nobleman, has fallen in love with a shy, beautiful peasant girl named Giselle, despite being engaged to Bathilde, the Duke of [[Courland]]'s daughter. He disguises himself as a humble villager called "Loys" to court the enchanting and innocent Giselle, who knows nothing of his true identity. With the help of his [[squire]], he hides his fine attire, [[hunting horn]], and sword before coaxing her out of her house to romance her as the harvest festivities begin.

Meanwhile, the Wilis have cornered a terrified Hilarion. They use their magic to force him to dance until he is nearly dead, and then drown him in a nearby lake. Then they spy Albrecht, and turn on him, sentencing him to death as well. He pleads to Myrtha for his life, but she coldly refuses. Giselle's pleas are also dismissed and he is forced to dance until sunrise.<ref>{{cite AV media | people= Étoiles Myriam Ould-Braham et Mathieu Ganio |date=2016 | title=Paris Opera Ballet – Giselle – Albrecht entrechats-six| publisher=Opéra national de Paris|location=Paris, France|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQW0nTZWeM| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/SiQW0nTZWeM| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> However, the power of Giselle's love counters the Wilis' magic and spares his life. The other spirits return to their graves at daybreak, but Giselle has broken through the chains of hatred and vengeance that control the Wilis, and is thus released from their powers and will haunt the forest no more. After bidding a tender farewell to Albrecht, she returns to her grave to rest in peace.

The [[French Revolution]] (1789{{ndash}}17991789–1799) brought sweeping changes to theatre in France. Banished were the ballets the aristocracy preferred about the gods and goddesses of [[Mount Olympus]]. Instead, ballets about everyday people, real places, real time, the historical past, and the supernatural took prominence. These sorts of ballets were preferred by the burgeoning middle class.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|p=9}}</ref>

In March 1832, the ballet ''[[La Sylphide]]'' debuted in Paris.<ref name=bal459>{{harvnb|Balanchine|1979|p=459}}</ref> This ballet is about a beautiful [[sylph]] who loves James, a young Scotsman. Tragedy occurs. After dallying in the woods, the sylph dies when her earthly lover uses a bewitched scarf to trap her.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Kirstein|1984|p=147}}</ref> This ballet brought [[Marie Taglioni]] before the French public. She was the first to dance ''[[en pointe]]'' for artistic reasons rather than spectacle and was also the first to wear the white, bell-shaped, calf-length ballet skirt now considered an essential feature of the romantic ballet.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|p=16}}</ref> Poet and critic [[Théophile Gautier]] attended the first performance of ''La Sylphide''. His ideas for ''Giselle'' would show touches of ''La Sylphide'' ten years later. It would be set in a real place and in the past, for example, and would be about everyday people and supernatural women.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=13{{ndash}}1413–14}}</ref>

In an 1841 news article announcing the first performance of ''Giselle'', Théophile Gautier recorded his part in the creation of the ballet. He had read Heinrich Heine's description of the Wilis in ''De l'Allemagne'' and thought these evil spirits would make a "pretty ballet".<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|p=18}}</ref> He planned their story for Actact II2 and settled upon a verse by Victor Hugo called "Fantômes" to provide the inspiration for Actact I1. This verse is about a beautiful 15-year-old Spanish girl who loves to dance. She becomes too warm at a ball and dies of a chill in the cool morning.<ref name=beau19/>

Heine's prose passage in ''De l'Allemagne'' tells of supernatural young women called the Wilis. They have died before their wedding day and rise from their graves in the middle of the night to dance. Any young man who crosses their path is forced to dance to his death.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Smith|2000|pp=170{{ndash}}72170–172}}</ref> In another book, the Wilis are said to be jilted young women who have died and become vampires. This is assumed to be the reason that they hate men.<ref name=beau19>{{harvnb|Beaumont|1944|p=19}}</ref>

Gautier thought Heine's Wilis and Hugo's fifteen-year-old Spanish girl would make a good ballet story.<ref name=smith172>{{harvnb|Smith|2000|pp=172{{ndash}}74172–174}}</ref> His first idea was to present an empty ballroom glittering with crystal and candlelight. The Wilis would cast a spell over the floor. Giselle and other dancers would enter and whirl through the room, unable to resist the spell to keep them dancing. Giselle would try to keep her lover from partnering other girls. The Queen of the Wilis would enter, lay her cold hand on Giselle's heart and the girl would drop dead.<ref name=beaumont20>{{harvnb|Beaumont|1944|p=20}}</ref>

Gautier was not satisfied with this story. It was basically a succession of dances with one moment of drama at its end.<ref name=beaumont20/> He had no experience writing ballet scenarios so he called upon Vernoy de St. Georges, a man who had written many ballet librettos. St. Georges liked Gautier's basic idea of the frail young girl and the Wilis. He wrote the story of Giselle as it is known today in three days,<ref name=smith174>{{harvnb|Smith|2000|p=174}}</ref><ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=202{{ndash202–203}}03}}</ref> and sent it to [[Léon Pillet]], the director of the Paris Opéra.<ref name="beaumont20"/> Pillet needed a good story to introduce Grisi to the Paris public. He found that story in ''Giselle''. Grisi liked it as much as Pillet did, so ''Giselle'' was put into production at once.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Smith|2000|pp=172{{ndash172–173}}73}}</ref>

Hopes that the ballet would be ready in May were dashed and the opening night was postponed several times. Grisi was absent for a few days and her return was delayed to protect her health. Lighting, trapdoors, and scene changes needed further rehearsals. Cuts were made in Grisi's role to spare the dancer's health. Instead of returning to her tomb at the end of the ballet, it was decided that she would be placed on a bed of flowers and sink slowly into the earth. This touch preserved the romantic mood of the Actact II2 finale.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Guest|2008|p=349}}</ref>

At last, on Monday, 28 June 1841 the curtain rose on ''Giselle'' at the Salle Le Peletier.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Balanchine|1979|p=192}}</ref> Grisi danced Giselle with [[Lucien Petipa]] as her lover Albrecht, Jean Coralli as the gamekeeper Hilarion, and [[Adèle Dumilâtre]] as Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Robert|1949|p=169}}</ref> Typical of the theatrical practices of the time, ''Giselle'' was preceded by an excerpt from another production—in this case, the third act of [[Rossini]]'s opera, ''[[Mosè in Egitto]]''. In 1844 [[Marie Guy-Stéphan]] made her first appearance in the title role for the first production of ''Giselle'' in Spain. She performed in numerous works by Pepita.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/guy-stephan-marie-1818-1873 |title=Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages |via=[[Encyclopedia.com]] |publisher=[[Thomson-Gale]] |first1=Anne |last1=Commire |author-link=Anne Commire |first2=Deborah |last2=Klezmer |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7876-7585-1 |volume=1 |pages=1176}}</ref>

''Giselle'' was a great artistic and commercial success. ''Le Constitutionnel'' praised Actact II2 for its "poetic effects".{{sfn|Guest|2008|p=351}} ''Moniteur des théâtres'' wrote that Grisi "runs [and] flies across the stage like a [[gazelle]] in love".{{sfn|Guest|2008|p=353}} One critic made a detailed analysis of the music in ''La France Musicale''. He thought the Actact I1 waltz "ravishing" and noted that the scene of Berthe's [[wikt:narrative|narrative]] was filled with "quite new" harmonic [[Modulation (music)|modulation]]s. He praised other moments in Act I (especially the mad scene), and was in raptures with the music of Actact II2, singling out the entrance of the Wilis and the viola solo played through Giselle's last moments. He thought the flute and harp music accompanying Giselle as she disappeared into her grave at ballet's end "full of tragic beauty.".{{sfn|Beaumont|1944|p=58}}

Coralli was praised for the Actact I1 peasant ''[[pas de deux]]'' and for the "elegance" of Actact II2. Coralli followed a suggestion made by Gautier and picked the most beautiful girls in the company to play the peasants and the Wilis. One observer thought the selection process cruel: the almost-beautiful girls were turned away without a second thought.{{sfn|Guest|2008|pp=353–54353–354}}

Grisi and Petipa were great successes as the tragic lovers. Gautier praised their performance in Actact II2, writing that the two dancers made the act "a real poem, a choreographic elegy full of charm and tenderness ... More than one eye that thought it was seeing only [dance] was surprised to find its vision obscured by a tear{{mdash}}something that does not often happen in a ballet ... Grisi danced with a perfection ... that places her in the ranks between [[Fanny Elssler|Elssler]] and [[Marie Taglioni|Taglioni]] ... Her miming surpassed every expectation ... She is nature and artlessness personified."{{sfn|Guest|2008|p=351}}

''Giselle'' made 6, 500 French francs (equivalent to 37 529 € in 2015) between June and September 1841. This was twice the amount for the same time period in 1839. Grisi's salary was increased to make her the top earner among the dancers at the Opéra. Souvenirs were sold, pictures of Grisi as Giselle were printed, and sheet music arrangements were made for social dancing. The sculptor Emile Thomas made a statuette of Giselle in her Actact II2 costume. A silk cloth was manufactured called ''façonné Giselle'', and Madame Lainné, a milliner, sold an artificial flower called 'Giselle'. The ballet was parodied at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in October 1841.{{sfn|Guest|2008|p=357}}

Adolphe Adam was a popular writer of ballet and opera music in early 19th-century France.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|p=53}}</ref> He wrote with great speed and completed ''Giselle'' in about two months.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Smith|2000|p=173}}</ref> The music was written in the smooth, song-like style of the day called ''cantilena''. This style is well known to music lovers from [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]'s opera ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'' and [[Donizetti]]'s ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]''.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=55{{ndash}}5655–56}}</ref>

Adam used several ''[[leitmotif]]s'' in the ballet. This is a short musical phrase that is associated with a certain character, event, or idea. Adam's leitmotifs are heard several times throughout the ballet.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=55{{ndash}}5855–58}}</ref> There is a leitmotif associated with Giselle and another with Albrecht. Hilarion's motif marks his every entrance. It suggests the Fate theme in [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]].

Another leitmotif is associated with the "he loves me, he loves me not" flower test in Actact I1, which is heard again in the mad scene, and in Actact II2 when Giselle offers flowers to Albrecht. The Wilis have their own motif. It is heard in the overture, in Actact I1 when Berthe tells the story of the Wilis, and in the mad scene. It is heard again in Actact II2 when the Wilis make their first entrance. The hunting horn motif marks sudden surprises. This motif is heard when Albrecht is exposed as a nobleman.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Kirstein|1984|p=146}}</ref>

For Carlotta Grisi's performances as Giselle with the Imperial Ballet in St.Saint Petersburg, Perrot commissioned the composer [[Cesare Pugni]] to score a new ''pas de cinq'' for the ballerina that was added to the first tableau.<ref name="Guest 1983 36">{{harvnb|Guest|1983|p=36}}</ref> This ''pas'' was only retained for Grisi's performances and never performed again after her departure from St.Saint Petersburg. Marius Petipa would also commission an additional piece for the first tableau of the ballet. This was a ''pas de deux'' from the composer [[Ludwig Minkus]] that was added to the choreographer's 1884 revival for the ballerina [[Maria Gorshenkova]].<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Smakov|1967}}</ref> As with Pugni's 1850 ''pas de cinq'' for Grisi, Gorshenkova's 1884 ''pas de deux'' by Minkus never became part of the performance tradition of ''Giselle''.

Three solo variations were added to the ballet by Petipa during the latter half of the 19th century. The first was arranged in 1867 for the ''grand pas de deux'' of the second tableau for the ballerina [[Adèle Grantzow]].<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Petipa|1971|p=267}}</ref><ref name="Guest 1983 36"/> The music was composed by Cesare Pugni and was based on Adolphe Adam's "he loves me, he loves me not" leitmotif.<ref name="Guest 1983 36"/> This variation has been retained in the ballet ever since.

The second variation was added by Petipa to the first tableau for the ballerina [[Emma Bessone]]'s début as Giselle at the [[Mariinsky Theatre]] in 1886, and on this occasion the composer [[Riccardo Drigo]] wrote the music for the variation.<ref name="Travaglia 1929 74">{{harvnb|Travaglia|1929|p=74}}</ref> The music was never used again after Bessone's departure from Russia until [[Agrippina Vaganova]] added it to the ''Peasant pas de deux'' for the Kirov Ballet's production of ''Giselle'' in 1932.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Edgecombe|2005}}</ref> The inclusion of this variation in the ''Peasant pas de deux'' remains part of the Mariinsky Theatre's performance tradition of ''Giselle'' to the present day.

The third variation added by Petipa was also composed by Drigo and has survived as one of the most beloved passages of ''Giselle''. This variation, sometimes dubbed as the ''Pas seul'', was arranged in 1887 for the ballerina [[Elena Cornalba]]'s performance in a revival of Saint-Léon's ''[[Fiametta]]''. Cornalba then included it for her début in ''Giselle'' in December of that year, where it has remained ever since.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Petipa|1971|p=266}}</ref><ref name="Travaglia 1929 74"/> The variation was also danced by Cornalba's successors in the role of Giselle at the Mariinsky Theatre. Cornalba's variation was first performed outside of Russia by [[Olga Spessivtzeva]] in 1924 at the Paris Opéra, and from then on all productions staged outside of Russia included the variation. There was much confusion at that time as to who was responsible for composing the music, leading many ballet historians and musicologists to credit Ludwig Minkus as the author, a misconception which still persists.

[[Jean Coralli]] and [[Jules Perrot]] choreographed the original version of ''Giselle''. Perrot and Carlotta Grisi were lovers and, consequently, Perrot designed all of her dances and [[pantomime]].<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Kirstein|1984|pp=150{{ndash}}51150–151}}</ref> Everyone in the Paris dance world knew that Perrot had created Grisi's dances and Coralli admitted it, but Perrot was given no official credit in the printed materials such as posters and programs.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Cordova|2007|p=116}}</ref> This was most likely done to prevent Perrot from collecting royalties on the ballet.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Guest|2008|p=148}}</ref> Perrot liked bold touches and planned several rapid aerial swoops on wires in Actact II2 for Giselle. Grisi was afraid of these swoops, therefore a stage hand was brought in to test them. He crashed face-first into the scenery and the swoops were dropped.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Guest|2008|p=149}}</ref>

Cyril Beaumont writes that ''Giselle'' is made up of two elements: dance and mime. Act I1 features short mimed scenes, he points out, and episodes of dancing which are fused with mime. In Actact II2, mime has become fused entirely with dance. He indicates that the choreographic vocabulary is composed of a small number of simple steps:

Beaumont speculates that the simple steps were deliberately planned to allow the "utmost expressiveness."<ref>.{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=85–88}}</ref>

Parts of ''Giselle'' have been cut or changed since the ballet's first night. Giselle's Actact I1 pantomime scene in which she tells Albrecht of her strange dream is cut and the peasant ''pas de deux'' is also slightly cut back. The Duke of Courland and his daughter Bathilde used to make their entrance on horseback, but today they walk on. In the original production they were present at Giselle's death, but now they leave the scene before she dies. The machines used to make Giselle fly and to make her disappear are no longer employed. A trapdoor is sometimes utilized to make Giselle rise from her grave and then sink into it at the end of Actact II2.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Guest|2008|p=354}}</ref> At the end of Actact II2 Bathilde formerly entered with the courtiers to search for Albrecht. He took a few unsteady steps toward them and then collapsed into their arms. This moment was an artistic parallel to the Actact I1 finale when the peasants gathered about the dead Giselle. Now, Bathilde and the courtiers are cut and Albrecht slowly leaves the stage alone.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Smith|2000|p=176}}</ref>

Ethnic music, dance, and costume were a large part of romantic ballet. At the time ''Giselle'' was written, people thought of Germany when they heard a waltz because the waltz is of German origin. Giselle makes her first entrance to the music of a waltz, and the audience would have known at once that the ballet was set in Germany. Adam wrote three waltzes for ''Giselle'': two for Giselle and one for the Wilis. He said that the "Giselle Waltz" in Actact I1 has "all the German color indicated by the locality" and people agreed. One critic wrote: "A lovely waltz ... in the Germanic spirit of the subject".<ref name=smi191/>

At first, Gautier thought that some of the dancers in the waltz for the Wilis should dress in ethnic costume and dance ethnic steps. Adam put bits of French, Spanish, German, and Indian-sounding music in the waltz for this purpose. Gautier's "ethnic" idea was dropped as the ballet developed and it has not been picked up by modern producers. Today, Actact II2 is a ''[[ballet blanc]]'' (a "white" ballet in which all the ballerinas and the ''corps de ballet'' are dressed in full, white, bell-shaped skirts and the dances have a geometric design).<ref name=smi191>{{harvnb|Smith|2000|pp=191{{ndash}}95191–195}}</ref>

''Giselle'' was revived in 1863 with new costumes by Lormier's assistant, Alfred Albert. Albert's costumes are closer to those of modern productions than those of Lormier, and were in use at the opera until 1868. The ballet was revived again in 1924 with scenery and costumes by [[Alexandre Benois]]. He wanted to revive the costumes of the original production but dropped the idea, believing the critics would charge him with a lack of imaginative creativity.{{sfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=64{{ndash}}6764–67}}

[[Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri|Pierre Luc Charles Ciceri]] was the chief set designer at the Paris Opéra from 1815 to 1847. He designed the sets for the first production of ''Giselle''. Gautier was not specific about the ballet's locale, but placed it in "some mysterious corner of Germany ... on the other side of the Rhine".{{sfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=59{{ndash}}6059–60}}

''Giselle'' was two months in rehearsal, which was a very long rehearsal time for the period. Even so, Ciceri did not have enough time to design sets for both acts and focused on the second act. The sets for the first act were actually those designed for the 1838 ballet, ''[[La Fille du Danube]]'' by Adam. An illustration from ''Les Beautés de l'Opera'' of 1845 shows Giselle's cottage with a roof of straw on the left and Albrecht's cottage on the right. The two cottages are framed by the branches of two large trees on either sides of the stage. Between the two cottages, in the distance, appears a castle and slopes covered with vineyards. Although this scene was not designed for ''Giselle'', it has remained the model for most modern productions.{{sfn|Ashton|1985|p=36}} Ciceri's set was in use until the ballet was dropped from the repertoire in 1853. At that time, Gautier noticed that the sets were falling apart: "Giselle's cottage has barely three or four straws on its roof."{{sfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=59{{ndash}}6059–60}}

The Actact II2 illustration from ''Les Beautés'' shows a dark wood with a pool of water in the distance. The branches of aged trees create a [[tree tunnel]]. Beneath these branches on the left is a marble cross with 'Giselle' carved on it. From one of its arms hangs the crown of grape leaves Giselle wore as Queen of the Vintage. On the stage, thick weeds and wildflowers (200 bulrushes and 120 branches of flowers) were the undergrowth. The gas jets of the footlights and those overhead suspended in the flies were turned low to create a mood of mystery and terror.{{sfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=59{{ndash}}6059–60}}

[[File:Maquette de décor de Giselle (Les Ballets russes, Opéra) (4550389196).jpg|thumb|Benois' design for Actact I1 at the Paris Opera, 1910]]

A circular hole was cut into the backdrop and covered with a transparent material. A strong light behind this hole represented the moon. The light was occasionally manipulated to suggest the passage of clouds. Gautier and St. Georges wanted the pool to be made of large mirrors but Pillet rejected this idea because of its cost. In the 1868 revival, however, mirrors were acquired for this scene.{{sfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=60{{ndash}}6160–61}}

Adam thought Ciceri's backdrop for Actact I1 was "not so good ... it is all weak and pale" but he liked the set for Actact II2: "[Ciceri's] second act is a delight, a dark humid forest filled with bulrushes and wild flowers, and ending with a sunrise, seen at first through the trees at the end of the piece, and very magical in its effect." The sunrise also delighted the critics.{{sfn|Guest|2008|p=351}}

''Giselle'' was mounted by other ballet companies in Europe and America almost immediately after its first night. The British had their first taste of ''Giselle'' with a drama based on the ballet called ''Giselle, or The Phantom Night Dancers'' by [[William Moncrieff]], who had seen the ballet in Paris the same year. The play was performed on 23 August 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Sadler's Wells.<ref name=beaumont126>{{harvnb|Beaumont|1944|p=126}}</ref> The actual ballet was first staged in London at [[Her Majesty's Theatre]] on 12 March 1842 with Grisi as Giselle and Perrot as Albrecht. The dances were credited to Perrot and one Deshayes. This production was revived many times, once in 1884 with a Mlle. Sismondi in the role of Albrecht. This production, preceded by an operetta called ''Pocahontas'',<ref name=beaumont127>{{harvnb|Beaumont|1944|pp=126{{ndash}}27126–127}}</ref> met with little enthusiasm.

''Giselle'' was first performed in [[Russia]] at the [[Bolshoi Theatre]], [[St.Saint Petersburg]], on 18 December 1842. [[Stepan Gedeonov]], the Director of the St.Saint Petersburg [[Imperial Theatres]], sent his ballet master Antoine Titus to Paris to find a new ballet for ballerina [[Yelena Andreyanova]]. Titus chose ''Giselle''. The Ballet Master then staged the work completely from memory in St.Saint Petersburg.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|p=128}}</ref> Perrot produced ''Giselle'' in St.Saint Petersburg in 1851. He made many changes to the ballet in his years of service to the Imperial Ballet. In the 1880s, Petipa made many changes to the Perrot production.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|p=130}}</ref>

In 1844, American ballerina [[Mary Ann Lee]] arrived in Paris to study with Coralli for a year. She returned to the United States in 1841 with the directions for ''Giselle'' and other ballets. Lee was the first to present ''Giselle'' in the United States. She did this on 1 January 1846 in Boston at the [[Howard Athenæum]]. George Washington Smith played Albrecht. Lee danced ''Giselle'' (again with Smith) on 13 April 1846 at the Park Theatre in [[New York City]].<ref name=beaumont129>{{harvnb|Beaumont|1944|p=129}}</ref><ref>{{harvnbsfn|Robert|1949|p=163}}</ref>

In January 1911 [[Nijinsky]] danced in ''Giselle'' at the [[Mariinsky Theatre]] in St.Saint Petersburg for the [[Mariinsky Ballet|Imperial Ballet]], with the Tsarina [[Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)|Maria Feodorovna]] in attendance. His costume, which had been designed by [[Alexandre Benois]] and used in Paris before, caused a scandal, as he danced in tights without the then-common trousers. He refused to apologize and was dismissed from the Imperial Ballet.<ref>{{cite book sfn|first=Peter F.|last=Ostwald |title=Vaslav Nijinsky, A Leap into Madness |year=1991 |location=London |isbn= 0-86051-711-X | publisher=Robson Books Ltd.|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1VNuCYaauZUC| page=46}}</ref>

The ballet was staged by [[Diaghilev]]'s [[Ballets Russes]] later in 1911 at the [[Royal Ballet|Royal Opera, Covent Garden]], with [[Tamara Karsavina]] and [[Nijinsky]] as Giselle and Albrecht. [[Anna Pavlova]] danced Giselle with her own company in 1913. [[Alicia Markova]] danced the role with the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1934, and [[Margot Fonteyn]] took the role in 1937 when Markova left the company. The English loved ''Giselle''. In 1942, for example, three different companies were dancing the ballet in London.<ref>{{harvnbsfn|Beaumont|1944|pp=126{{ndash}}28126–128}}</ref>

* {{CitationCite book|last=Ostwald |first=Peter F. |year=1991 |title=Vaslav Nijinsky: A Leap into Madness |place=New York |publisher=Carol Publishing Group |isbn=0-8184-0535-X |url=https://archive.org/details/vaslavnijinskyle00ostw|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}

* {{Citation |last=Smakov |first=Gennadi |year=1967 |title=Giselle perf. by the Bolshoi Theatre Orch., cond. by Algis Zhuraitis (liner note for LP SRB4118) |place=Moscow |publisher=Melodiya}}

* {{IMSLP2IMSLP|work=Giselle (Adam, Adolphe)|cname=''Giselle''}}