From time to time this terrific Edward Gorey advertisement for the New York City Ballet will show up with a black background. It is much rarer to find this beautiful burgundy version.
One of the few ballets to have survived the Romantic era of the mid-1800s, “Giselle” tells the story of the title character, a young, innocent village maiden who’s in love with a man she knows only as Loys. In reality, the man is Albrecht, a nobleman disguised as a peasant—an already betrothed nobleman. When Giselle discovers the deceit, she is inconsolable and first goes mad, then dies of a broken heart. In the second act, her undying love for Albrecht saves him from the wicket magic of the willis—vampric ghosts of betrothed girls who died before their wedding day. Though their leader forces Albrecht to dance again and again, Giselle intervenes long enough to spare his strength and allow him to survive until dawn, because at sunrise, these ghosts must return to their graves. Giselle, too, must return but not before showing Albrecht that she forgives him for his treachery. The two pledge their love to each other and she descends back into her grave. Forever separated from her true love, Giselle becomes a willi for the rest of eternity.
Throughout the long and complex performance history of Swan Lake the 1895 edition of Petipa, Ivanov, and Drigo has served as the definitive version from which nearly every staging has been based. Nearly every balletmaster or choreographer who has re-staged Swan Lake has sought to make modifications to the ballet’s scenario, while still maintaining to a considerable extent the traditional choreography for the dances, which is regarded as virtually sacrosanct. Likewise, over time the role of Siegfried has become far more prominent, due largely to the evolution of ballet technique.
“For Massenet’s musical version of Cinderella, Bertrand evokes an eerily haunting twilight mood, animated by a fairy directing a flock of geese. Art-Nouveau ornamentation throughout the design brings the elements of this admirable composition together in a memorable image” (Gold, p. 109). Active primarily around the turn of the twentieth century, Bertrand, a member of the Societe des Artistes Francais, was an engraver and painter who exhibited his works at several of their Salons.
