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act-I

The Story of Giselle

ACT I

A quaint village, seemingly haunted by spirits, was inhabited by a few peasants.

One of the strange legends that travelled around the village was that of the Wilis. They were believed to be ghostly, sylph-like spirits of young maidens who had been deserted or deceived by their lovers and had died of grief and a broken heart even before their wedding bells had chimed- and, in particular, of girls who had had a great love of dancing in their former lives.

Lovely though they were to look at, the Wilis kept up a dangerous grudge against all the male mortals they came in contact with. If any young man happened to be out alone in the forest late at night and was unlucky enough to fall in with a group of Wilis dancing as sylphs in the moonlight, he was never seen alive again. The dancing phantoms would quickly surround him and compel him to join in their giddy whirling movements until he became too exhausted to recover and, at last, fell to the ground, dead.

One of the girls most frequently warned about this was a fair young maiden named Giselle, who, besides being the best dancer, was also the prettiest girl in the village, but with a weak heart.
So beautiful indeed, was this young peasant maiden, Giselle, that she already had two sweethearts.

One of these was Hilarion, a forest-ranger or game-keeper, who had loved her deeply for a long time and was hoping to become betrothed to her in due course. Of late, however, he had felt that Giselle was no longer interested in him, as was formerly the case, and that he had a rival.

This was the truth. The beautiful Giselle had recently attracted the attention and admiration of Albrecht, the handsome young Duke of Silesia, whose Castle overlooked the village; and he soon fell desperately in love with her. But there were more difficulties in the way of his romance.

In the first place, he was already betrothed to the proud Princess Bathilde of Courland, whom he was expected to marry at some not too distant date. Secondly, he was aware that his high social position would not permit of his marriage with a peasant maid. Nevertheless, he had conceived so deep a passion for the beautiful Giselle that he was determined to see her as frequently as possible; and he hoped to win her love.

Suspecting that the simple village beauty might be unwilling to meet him as the powerful Duke of that district, and also wishing to keep his sweet romance a secret, for the time being, he devised a plan of action with the help of his favourite attendant, a young squire named Wilfred. He made use of an empty cottage which stood opposite the rustic home of Giselle and her mother, Berthe. Here he would arrive secretly and discard his fine clothes as a young lord; then he would issue forth from the cottage dressed in the simple garb of a peasant. Thus disguised, he made the acquaintance of Giselle, to whom he introduced himself as Loys, a rustic youth.

So charming was the newcomer that Giselle all too quickly fell in love with him, and she believed the handsome Loys to be indeed a peasant such as Hilarion and her other village friends.

The lovers met many times, and their ecstatic happiness increased with every meeting. Giselle danced now more than ever before and was overjoyed on discovering that her beloved Loys was likewise a splendid dancer. He was infinitely more graceful than any of the village youths who had formerly been her partners.

Buy Hilarion, the game-keeper, was far from happy. He became furiously jealous whenever he saw Giselle in the company of the stranger. Hilarion was suspicious of Loys- not knowing whence he unexpectedly came. So, he determined to keep a close watch upon the hated newcomer who had so quickly stolen away from him the heart of the village belle.

Another person likewise uneasy in his mind was the squire attendant, Wilfred, who felt that the young Duke's secret romance could not long remain hidden and that it might end disastrously.

The village lads and ladies rejoiced the happy couple when the harvest season came along. Berthe, Giselle's mother, however, did not approve. She scolded her roundly for thus wasting her time- even declaring warningly that the young girl might presently be transformed into a Wili, if she continued to dance so frequently- and extravagantly.

Very soon afterwards, the sound of hunting-horns was heard; and presently a formal hunting-party arrived upon the scene, headed by the Prince of Courland and his daughter, the Princess Bathilde. Among the party was the Duke's squire, Wilfred, who appeared anxious and troubled because his young master was among the peasants at this time. The hunting party left, but Hilarion, after snooping found the Duke's sword, proving that he is, in fact, royalty. Hilarion called the hunting party back, where Bathilde immediately recognised Loys masquerade.

The beautiful Giselle was so overcome by grief and shame as she realised her deception by the young Duke and now learned also that the Princess Bathilde was, in truth, his betrothed future wife, that she sank to the ground in a paroxysm of sobs. Giselle began to fling herself about and to dash hither and thither in a dance of such utter madness that the alarmed company quickly realised that the terrible shock she had received had disturbed the balance of her mind and that she had, indeed, lost her reason to live. The distraught girl broke away from Albretch's restraining arms, as he tried to comfort her, almost in horror; snatching up his sword and plunged the point of it into her breast.

Then, with her last remaining strength, she continued her wild dance. Nobody could stop her uncontrolled but beautifully rhythmic movements; all the sympathetic spectators could do was to gaze upon the distracted girl in awe-struck horror. Then came the tragic climax. Giselle suddenly stopped and wavered uncertainly for a moment or two; then, uttering a soft sigh, she fell back, dead, into the arms of her weeping mother.

{credits to: giselle-ballet.com}