About the ballet
- Run time: 2hrs 15min, 1 intermission
- Opera house: Vienna State Opera
"Giselle" is considered the epitome of romantic ballet and has been a standard in the classical repertoire since its premiere in Paris in 1841. The story is based on a legend in which the ghosts of unmarried girls seek revenge on the living. The ballet's combination of dramatic acting, virtuoso technique and heavenly beauty still fascinates audiences all over the world today.
Ticket information
- Select a date an book
- E-Ticket (Print@home)
Vienna State Opera
Opernring 2, 1010 Vienna View in Google Maps
How to get there:
Subway: U1, U2, U4 to Karlsplatz
Trams: 1, 2, D, 62, 71 to Opernring
French composer Adolphe Adam (1803 –1856) was a popular writer of ballet and opera music, producing over 80 operatic stage works in the course of his career. Today he is best known for his ballets Giselle (1841) and Le corsaire (1856), and the Christmas carol Minuit, chrétiens! (1844), later set to different English lyrics and widely sung as "O Holy Night".
Jean Coralli (1779 – 1854) and Jules Perrot (1810 –1892) choreographed the original version of Giselle. It is, however, Marius Petipa’s revival of Giselle from the 1884 that has become the “traditional” version.
Librettists Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (1799 –1875) and Théophile Gautier (1811 –1872) took their inspiration for the scenario from Heinrich Heine’s De l'Allemagne, and from Victor Hugo’s poem Fantômes.
