George Balanchine Catalogue

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234. GISELLE: ACT II GRAVE SCENE

Music: By Adolphe Adam (produced 1841).

Choreography: By Dimitri Romanoff, with contributions by George Balanchine and Antony Tudor.

Production: Scenery and costumes by Eugene Berman.

Premiere: October 15, 1946, Ballet Theatre, Broadway Theatre, New York. Conductor: Max Goberman.

Cast: Giselle, Alicia Alonso; Albrecht, Igor Youskevitch; Hilarion, Stanley Herbert; Myrtha, Nora Kaye; and others.

Note: Balanchine, working with Romanoff, arranged the traditional Maryinsky staging of Giselle's grave scene in Act II: Albrecht prevents Giselle from disappearing into her grave and lays her on a bed of flowers; but Giselle sinks away, and only the flowers remain. This interpolation lasted in repertory for only a brief time.

Source notes: hide...

Balanchine; Charles Payne, American Ballet Theatre, p. 148.