Opening Night of Giselle

Paris – June 28^th, 1841

 You’re a well-to-do Parisian with a ticket to the event of the year – the opening performance of Adolphe Adam’s new ballet Giselle at the Paris Opera.  You’re about to witness ballet history . . .

The Saint-Denis district of Paris, circa 1840

The World You Live In

It was only a little over a year ago that Britain’s Queen Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert, in the social event of the century.  You’re living in the dawning of the age of photography; the daguerreotype, a primitive form of photography using iodine vapors and copper plates to transfer images, has been around for only about four years.  The very first postage stamp (the “Penny Black”) was just invented in England a few months ago.  And you’ve probably been reading a lot in the news over the past year and a half about the group of explorers who discovered this new continent called Antarctica.

Things You Don’t Know Yet

Arc Du Carrouse, Paris, France 1841

Just a few blocks away where you’re sitting lives baby Claude Monet, now eight months old.  (He was baptized a month ago as Oscar-Claude, but his parents just call him Oscar.)  It will be 65 years before he paints his most famous work, Water Lilies.  Meanwhile, little Edgar Degas is seven years old, and his first painting of dancers (Mlle. Fiocre in the Ballet La Source) is still twenty-seven years away.

Three years from now, the Irish Famine will sink that country into poverty and starvation, and nearly a quarter of the population will die or emigrate to America or Australia.

Six years from now, the African nation of Liberia, which was settled by freed American slaves, will be named an independent republic.

Seven years from now, the French government will be completely turned upside down and the Second Republic ended by the February Revolution, in which class warfare erupts into bloodshed, with riots breaking out in Paris’ working-class districts and brutally suppressed by the army.  Working-class uprisings spread all over Europe, leading to mass immigration of these workers to the United States.  Many find work out West, where miners have just sighted gold in the Sierra Nevadas.

Eleven years from now, Harriet Beecher Stowe will strike a major blow for civil rights in American with her groundbreaking novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Thirteen years from now, Commodore Matthew Perry’s treaty with the Tokugawa shogunate officially opens Japan up for trade with Europe, leading to a fanatical style craze throughout France for all things Japanese.  Soon the hip Parisian wouldn’t be caught dead without at least one piece of Japanese furniture or textiles in their homes.

Twenty years from now, shots are fired on Charleston’s Fort Sumpter, marking the beginning of the Civil War, which will claim 600,000 lives in four years.

Thirty-eight years from now, Thomas Edison will build the first incandescent lightbulb.

Forty-one years from now, Russian Jews will establish the very first Zionist settlements.

Fifty-two years from now, New Zealand will become the first country to grant women the right to vote.

Evening Wear for the Trendy Balletgoer

It’s a grand occasion, the premiere of a new ballet, so you’re sporting the latest fashions.  Fortunately you live in Paris; everyone else in the Western world has to wait anxiously for news of the latest French styles to reach them, but all you have to do is walk out your front door and stroll down the Champs-Elysees to see what well-heeled Parisians are wearing.

Porträt der Prinzessin di Sant’ Antimo (Francesco Hayez, 1840)

1841 is the year of the side curls, mesdemoiselles.  They’re worn in clusters framing the face, with a center part and the rest of the hair pulled back, probably with ribbons or jewels for evening.  The v-shaped bodice of the dress and bell-shaped skirt (white for evening, chérie) accent the silhouette for the rib-crushing corset you’re wearing under that evening dress.  You’re buried in petticoats, since the crinoline (a wire or bone cage worn under the skirt to create a full shape) won’t be invented for another ten years or so.  Arms and a modest amount of shoulder are bared for evening, but a sheer shawl and opera-length gloves would be de rigeur.

Alexander von Humboldt (Joseph Karl Stieler, 1843)

Top hats were getting taller in the 1840′s, so the best-dressed gentlemen knew the higher, the better.  The ideal silhouette for jackets was a nipped-in high waist (the full, rounded chest and dropped waist we associate with the Victorian era wouldn’t be trendy until later in the decade).  And a white cravat for evening, of course, my good man – nous ne sommes pas des animaux.

Intermission Conversation

The Paris Opera House

You and your date chat about art and music as you wait for the curtain to go up.  You’re a big fan of this young up-and-comer Alfred Tennyson, whose poem “The Lady of Shallott” was published eight years ago.  It wasn’t a big success, but you’ve heard he’s writing again, and you have great hopes of more from him.  The papers say Queen Victoria is a fan, so he’s likely to have quite a career.  Your date is more interested in this young Italian opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi, whose third opera just premiered a few months ago in Milan and rocketed him to the top of the pop culture charts.  Hopefully it will come to Paris soon so you can see it.  You’re both big fans of Camille Corot, the hottest painter working in Paris today.

You and your date go down to the lobby at intermission, to see and be seen, and on your way down from the boxes you pass the composer Richard Wagner, loudly complaining to his companions about the inferiority of Adolphe Adam’s music.  (Be grateful you’re not sitting next to him during Act II, since a week from now you’ll read in a German newspaper that he loathed the Wilis, even though that was your favorite part.)  Maybe composers are harder on other composers than anybody else, but for you, it’s a novel and intriguing concept to have a composer write one entire ballet score; this is the first ballet you’ve seen where the music wasn’t bits and pieces from lots of other things.  You and your friends have really enjoyed how personal the music seems with the repeated motifs that introduce the characters.  It’s a revolutionary notion for ballet.

Everyone is buzzing about the dazzling Carlotta Grisi, a rising star on the ballet scene.  There were some whispers before the show opened that she only got the role because Gautier, who wrote the story, is in love with her; but after seeing her transform from innocent peasant girl to madwoman to ghost, nobody can doubt that she was chosen for her talent.  The Paris Opera’s ballet master Jean Coralli choreographed the work, but everyone in Paris knows that Grisi’s teacher (and lover) Jules Perrot served as a sort of uncredited advisor on the production, helping her bring the character to life.  The real-life romances surrounding Carlotta Grisi are no less delicious than the one she just portrayed onstage . . .

But by far the most exciting thing everyone is talking about is this new ballet style Coralli and Perrot incorporated into their work.  You’re the only one of your companions who saw Marie Taglioni ten years ago in the “Ballet of the Nuns” from Act III of Meyerbeer’s 1831 opera Robert le Diable, and you saw her again a few years later in La Sylphide, but the rest of your group has never seen dancers en pointe before.  “So fluid and effortless!”  “The Wilis floated like real ghosts!”  “The dancers looked completely weightless, like they were flying!”  The excited chatter of voices goes on and on.  Privately, you think Giselle is miles beyond the previous two in terms of how they use this technique to move the story forward and develop the characters.  It’s not a gimmick anymore, it’s a way to give the audience a real sense of who the characters are.  You’re pretty sure this ballet is destined to become a classic.

Things You Don’t Know Yet

Arc Du Carrouse, Paris, France 1841

Just a few blocks away where you’re sitting lives baby Claude Monet, now eight months old.  (He was baptized a month ago as Oscar-Claude, but his parents just call him Oscar.)  It will be 65 years before he paints his most famous work, Water Lilies.  Meanwhile, little Edgar Degas is seven years old, and his first painting of dancers (Mlle. Fiocre in the Ballet La Source) is still twenty-seven years away.

Three years from now, the Irish Famine will sink that country into poverty and starvation, and nearly a quarter of the population will die or emigrate to America or Australia.

Six years from now, the African nation of Liberia, which was settled by freed American slaves, will be named an independent republic.

Seven years from now, the French government will be completely turned upside down and the Second Republic ended by the February Revolution, in which class warfare erupts into bloodshed, with riots breaking out in Paris’ working-class districts and brutally suppressed by the army.  Working-class uprisings spread all over Europe, leading to mass immigration of these workers to the United States.  Many find work out West, where miners have just sighted gold in the Sierra Nevadas.

Eleven years from now, Harriet Beecher Stowe will strike a major blow for civil rights in American with her groundbreaking novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Thirteen years from now, Commodore Matthew Perry’s treaty with the Tokugawa shogunate officially opens Japan up for trade with Europe, leading to a fanatical style craze throughout France for all things Japanese.  Soon the hip Parisian wouldn’t be caught dead without at least one piece of Japanese furniture or textiles in their homes.

Twenty years from now, shots are fired on Charleston’s Fort Sumpter, marking the beginning of the Civil War, which will claim 600,000 lives in four years.

Thirty-eight years from now, Thomas Edison will build the first incandescent lightbulb.

Forty-one years from now, Russian Jews will establish the very first Zionist settlements.

Fifty-two years from now, New Zealand will become the first country to grant women the right to vote.

The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (Caspar David Friedrich, 1818)

Welcome to Part IV of our “Meet the Romantics” series to help you enter into the world of Giselle. In this series of posts you’ll get a taste of what the world of European arts and culture was doing at the time, and how this masterwork ballet fits into the defining movements of its time.  

Read “Part I: Capital-R Romantic” here.

Read “Part II: The Composers” here.

Read “Part III: The Painters” here.

Five Key Characteristics of Romantic Literature

• The emergence of the subgenre we would call “Gothic,” emphasizing the creepy, horrifying, spooky and suspenseful;
• What is widely acknowledged as the “Golden Age” of British poetry, with Keats, Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson and scores of others reaching the peak of their fame;
• A rediscovery of classical poetic forms like odes and sonnets;
• A passion for exalting the grandeur and beauties of nature, and the spirit of rustic country living;
• A glorification of intense emotion and individuality over classical form.

Ten Artists To Know

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1743-1832, German): “When I leave here, let come what must./What do I care about it now, if hereafter/Men hate or love, or if in those other spheres/There be an Above or a Below?”  Read Faust

John Keats (1795-1821, British): “Beauty is truth, truth beauty; that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know . . .” Read “Ode On a Grecian Urn”

Mary Shelley (1797-1851, British): “Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived . . .  “ Read Frankenstein

Victor Hugo (1802-1885, French): “She gave anyone who saw her a sensation of April and of dawn. There was dew in her eyes. Cosette was a condensation of auroral light in womanly form . . .” Read Les Misérables

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American): “If a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches . . .” Read “Nature”

Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875, Danish): “Many nights she stood by the open window, looking up through the dark blue water, and . . . could see the moon and stars shining faintly. When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship. . .” Read “The Little Mermaid”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882, American): “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,/Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,/Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic . . .” Read “Evangeline”

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849, American): “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher . . .” Read “The Fall of the House of Usher”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892, British): “I hold it true, whate’er befall;/ I feel it when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all . . .” Read “In Memoriam”

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855, British): “May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonized as in that hour left my lips; for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love . . .” Read Jane Eyre

The Chancel and Crossing of Tintern Abbey, Looking Towards the East Window (JMW Turner, 1794)

Thanks for joining us for the “Meet the Romantics” series!

Want to keep the Romance alive?  We’ve got a special deal for you!  Join us Friday March 2nd for Giselle and get 1/2 off your tickets!  Click here and use offer code ADOLPHE to get your discount!  (Areas 1-4.  Limit 4.  Offer expires February 22nd.)

Don’t forget to join us before the show for our special Classical Cocktail Hour, a pre-show conversation in the lobby bar about composer Adolphe Adam, featuring All Classical FM host Edmund Stone and OBT Artistic Director Christopher Stowell!

Welcome to Part III of our “Meet the Romantics” series to help you enter into the world of Giselle. In this series of posts you’ll get a taste of what the world of European arts and culture was doing at the time, and how this masterwork ballet fits into the defining movements of its time.  

Read “Part I: Capital-R Romantic” here.

Read “Part II: The Composers” here.

Five Key Characteristics of Romantic Paintings

• Increased interest in both nationalism (metaphorical explorations of the spirit/character of the artist’s cultural heritage) and exoticism (a fascination with sensationalist depictions of other cultures, particularly Eastern cultures);
• A fascination with the supernatural;
• A focus on the darker, more mysterious side of nature, rather than depicting nature as the pinnacle of order and reason as in the preceding Classical period;
• Emergence of the “Pre-Raphaelite” movement in England;
• A new interest in depictions of the Common Man as a hero, in addition to the glorification of classical heroic ideals.

Ten Artists To Know

(Click pictures to enlarge!) 

Francisco Goya (1746-1828, Spanish) A dark, brooding and controversial Spanish painter regarded simultaneously as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the Romantics, famed for scandalous nudes and brutal depictions of war. 

L to R: The Nude Maja (1800); Courtyard With Lunatics (1794); The Milkmaid of Bordeaux (1827)

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851, English)  Though controversial in his day, Turner is now widely credited as being the first landscape painter to elevate that art to an equal level of respect as historical painting and portraiture.  He was one of the first iconic watercolor painters, and his work (especially with light and shadow) was a direct influence on the later Impressionists. 

L to R: Shipwreck of the Minotaur (date unknown); Ivy Bridge (1813); The Great Western Railway (1844)

John Constable (1776-1837, English)  Landscape painter primarily known for his depictions of the countryside around his home, in stark contrast to the fashion of the time which was primarily interested in wild landscapes and ruins.

L to R: Stour Valley and Dedham Village (date unknown); Portrait of Maria Bicknell (1816); Cloud Study (1821)

Francesco Hayez (1791-1881, Italian) The leading Italian Romanticist was noted for his historical portraits and political allegories. 

L to R: Aristotle (1811); The Kiss (1859); The Last Moments of Doge Marin Faliero (1867)

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875, French) One of the acknowledged great masters of the Romantic movement in France, Corot created iconic works in a variety of styles; while his emotion-filled, sweeping landscapes are what first brought him to fame (and would later win him the adoration of his successor Monet), his portraits and studies of the human form were a great inspiration to Degas and Picasso. 

L to R: Hagar In the Wilderness (1835); Self-Portrait (1840); Le beffroi de Douai (1871)

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863, French) Recognized in his time as the leader of the French Romantic school, Delacroix was inspired by the exotic East as well as classical and nationalist themes.  His “Liberty Leading the People” is one of the most famous works from this era (it was depicted on the 100-franc bank note).  He was also noted for his illustrations of works by everyone from Goethe to Shakespeare.

L to R: Liberty Leading the People (1830); Hamlet and Horatio (1839); Lion Hunt (1861)

Thomas Cole (1801-1848, American) Founder of the Hudson River School, a group of American artists whose work depicted the grandeur of the American wilderness, Cole was most famous for two series of paintings entitled “The Course of Empire” and “The Voyage of Life,” which made allegorical use of wild landscapes.

L to R: The Titan’s Goblet (1833); Romantic Landscape With Ruined Tower (1836); The Voyage of Life: Manhood (1842)

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840, German)  Widely regarded as the greatest German painter of his generation, this artist was known for rich, often dark, allegorical landscapes celebrating the awe and grandeur of nature. 

L to R: Tetschener Altar (1807); The Abbey In the Oakwood (1810); The Giant Mountains (1835) 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882, English) Founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848, which celebrated a return to the aesthetic of the Italian Renaissance.  Taking classical and medieval subjects as inspiration, Rossetti influence the work of many notable later artists like Edward Burne-Jones, John William Waterhouse and Maxfield Parrish. 

L to R: Self-Portrait (1847); Proserpine (1874); Alexa Wilding (1879)

William Morris (1834-1896, English) Painter, illustrator, stained-glass and textile artist whose work influenced architecture and design well into the 20th century and was a direct inspiration on the “Arts and Crafts” design movement (Tiffany stained glass, etc.)  Morris elevated ordinary objects like wallpaper and upholstery to the level of fine art. 

L to R: Queen Guinevere (1858); Tulip & Willow block-printed fabric (1873); Woodpecker tapestry (1885)

Welcome to Part II of our “Meet the Romantics” series to help you enter into the world of Giselle. In this series of posts you’ll get a taste of what the world of European arts and culture was doing at the time, and how this masterwork ballet fits into the defining movements of its time.  

Read “Part I: Capital-R Romantic” here.

Five Key Characteristics of Romantic Composition

• Rich and colorful orchestration with the introduction of orchestral “special effects”;
• Increasing the prominence of woodwind and brass;
• A greater focus by composers on moving audiences emotionally rather than strictly adhering to the structural discipline of Classical forms;
• The development of new genres of music like the “art song,” which blended Romantic poetry with lyric melodies; “tone poem” symphonies; and short, free-form piano pieces like the fantasy, arabesque, rhapsody, romanza, ballade and nocturne;
• Experimenting with new melodic styles, richer harmonies, and dissonance.

Ten Artists To Know

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847, German): Listen to “Nocturne” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)

Frederic Chopin (1810–1849, Polish): Listen to Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 (performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff)

Franz Liszt (1811–1886, Hungarian): Listen to Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (performed by Jung Lin)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901, Italian): Watch an excerpt from Aida (directed by Franco Zeffirelli)

Richard Wagner (1813–1883, German): Watch an excerpt from Götterdämmerung (The Ring Cycle)

Johann Strauss II (1825–1899, Austrian): Listen to The Blue Danube (performed by the Vienna Philharmonic)

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897, German): Listen to Violin Concerto in D Major, Op 77: III. Allegro giocoso (performed by Henryk Szeryng)

George Bizet (1838–1875, French): Watch Maria Callas sing the “Habanera” from Carmen

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893): Watch the Act II Pas de Quatre from Swan Lake (performed by American Ballet Theatre)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908, Russian): Listen to Flight of the Bumblebee (performed by Itzhak Perlman)

The Voyage of Life: Youth (Cole Thomas, 1848)

Welcome to Part I of our “Meet the Romantics” series to help you enter into the world of Giselle. In this series of posts you’ll get a taste of what the world of European arts and culture was doing at the time, and how this masterwork ballet fits into the defining movements of its time.

Meet the Romantics

“I am commencing an undertaking, hitherto without precedent and which will never find an imitator. I desire to set before my fellows the likeness of a man in all the truth of nature, and that man myself. Myself alone! I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different.”

–Jean Jacques Rousseau

In art, just as in history, time period designations don’t exist until someone looks back later and names them – just like how everyone who lived through World War I didn’t call it World War I, they called it “The Great War.”  It’s the same in the art world.  Sometimes our classifications come from the artists (we call painters like Rossetti and Waterhouse “Pre-Raphaelites” because that’s what they called themselves), and sometimes they’re applied later (you try telling a Baroque composer he’s not a “Modern” composer; every period is modern to the people who live in it).

The Romantic Period was a massive movement throughout America and Europe in direct reaction to the Enlightenment period that had preceded it, leading to some of the greatest works of art in Western civilization, from nearly all the great 19th century Italian operas to the Golden Age of British poetry.  But because time periods in art are so subjective, you’ll have a hard time finding any two experts who agree on when the period started and ended.  Loosely speaking, most of what we talk about as “Romantic” art appeared in the century between the 1780′s and the 1880′s, with an emphasis on around 1820-1850.  So a basic overview of this time period will be helpful to you if you’re unfamiliar with Giselle (which premiered in 1841) which is deeply representative of the literary, musical and visual aesthetics of its time.

First, it’s important that we define the word “Romantic”  when we talk about it with a capital R.  We’re not talking about this:

We’re talking about THIS:

You with me?  Not THIS:

But THIS:

Capital-R Romanticism is technically classified as a genre of art, music and literature that emerged in Europe around the second half of the 18th century, primarily as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment.  We’ve written a little about the German Romantics and the early “Sturm und Drang” movement on our blog before.  The world had been intellectual and science-y and left-brained for far too long, and after the French Revolution threw Europe into a turmoil, people began longing for a return to art that celebrated emotion and feeling over cold, rational thought.

A Brief Time-Out Between French Revolutions

A quick primer on what was going on in the French government around this time may be helpful.  Stick with us.  So, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815, and Louis XVIII (unflatteringly nicknamed “Louis the Unavoidable”) was installed as King of France by agreement of the Allied Powers at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.  Louis had a lot of health problems and didn’t make it very long.  He died childless in 1824 so his brother Charles X inherited the throne.  It will become important later that both Louis and Charles ruled by hereditary right and not popular consent.  Charles attempted to appease the revolutionary spirit still alive and well in France by creating a constitution, but accusations of pandering to the church, censoring the press, and other desperate attempts to maintain control soon lost him what little public support he had.  In March 1830 the unrest reached boiling point, and the parliament passed a vote of no confidence against the king – at which point he dissolved the parliament.  He also passed a series of dramatic new restrictions punishing the Liberal party who had turned against him, one of which was a censorship ordinance shutting down all the newspapers.  The mainstream publications shut down, but radical newspapers popped up everywhere criticizing the government and inspiring the common people to take action.  Within a day and a half, thousands of barricades had been thrown up all throughout Paris, manned by students, factory workers and other ordinary people who had been motivated to become revolutionaries.  Within three days the populist revolutionaries had captured every major public building in Paris.  Charles X abdicated, leaving his infant grandson as heir to the throne with Louis-Philippe of the House of Orleans serving as regent.  As the liberal politicians created a provisional government, they decided to declare Louis-Philippe (who was well known for his populist sympathies) as king.  He ruled until 1848 during what was termed “The July Monarchy.”

Battle at the Soufflot Barricades, 24 June 1848 by Horace Vernet

So during the period of Giselle, Paris was technically in peacetime, albeit a tenuous peace that had been short enough for everyone to remember what it had been like before.  Louis-Philippe was initially very popular with the French; he was a straight-shooter, he supported strengthening small businesses over indulging the big corporate interests of Paris, he had no interest in the pomp and circumstance that made his decadent predecessors so detested, and ruled as a constitutional monarch (meaning the general population had more voice in government than they had under the previous reign.)  The upper and middle classes breathed a little easier.  But the lower classes saw Louis-Philippe’s policies as no less indifferent to social reform and ending poverty as the rulers before him, and unrest continued to simmer throughout the 1830′s and 40′s.  Soon the king’s rule became more and more restrictive as he attempted to hold onto control.  By 1847, the monarchy was quietly but forcefully crushing peasant rebellions, France was in a depression, and about a third of Paris was on government assistance.  Through fall and winter of that year, and into early 1848, middle class Parisians organized secret fundraising banquets as a way to generate support for an emerging revolution without running afoul of government restrictions on political meetings.  When Louis-Philippe found out, they were shut down in February 1848, which was the last straw.  The Parisians took to the streets, both the oppressed lower classes and the Liberal middle classes united in protest.  Fires were set, a confrontation between armed resistors and the military ended in over 50 deaths, and Louis-Philippe hastily abdicated and fled to Great Britain, leading to the Second French Republic.  Though this provisional government lasted only three years, it gave us the iconic French slogan “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité,” and was a defining moment in the history of the French people.  Prince Louis-Napoléon (nephew of Bonaparte) was elected president and in 1851 launched a coup d’etat to declare himself King Napoleon III.  His reign was called the Second French Empire and lasted until 1870, when he was overthrown in the Franco-Prussian Wars and the Third French Republic was established, which lasted until World War II.

So what do we take away from all of this?  That the upper-class ballet lovers watching the curtain go up on opening night of Giselle in 1841 were sitting on a time bomb, and they knew it.

Machinery vs. Nature

“I hate this fast-growing tendency to chain men to machines in big factories and deprive them of all joy in their efforts – the plan will lead to cheap men and cheap products.”
–Richard Wagner

The Industrial Revolution had swept through America and Europe by the 1840′s.  With the exception of the very wealthy, most people lived in a world that looked like this.  Partly the Romantic movement emerged as a form of escapism – a return to an earlier and simpler way of life, a celebration of heightened emotional experiences that lifted people out of the daily grind.  Life for regular people in Europe was no picnic around this time.  Cities were crowded and polluted, factories were springing up in what was once farmland, and the genteel, sentimentalized poverty of the rustic, merry peasant had been replaced by a brutal, uglier reality of slums and disease.  And the arts, as they always have, gave people a way to escape from the pressures of their lives.  Small wonder that the great Romantic poets wrote about daffodils and ancient forests, and the great Romantic painters depicted pastoral landscapes or dramatic shipwrecks.  Whether sweeping, terrifying and haunting or quaint and sentimental, the art of the time had one thing in common – “Anywhere But Here.”  Chopin’s melodic piano preludes, Delacroix’ oil paintings of Greek goddesses, and Poe’s spooky short stories let ordinary, middle-class men and women escape to a less dreary, more interesting place.

Fra Hardanger (Hans Gude, 1847)

So Over the Enlightenment

The Romantics emerged in reaction to the movement that had preceded them, which we call “The Enlightenment,” which lasted from approximately the 1650′s through the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.  This period placed a new emphasis on science, logic and reason, prioritizing the head over the heart.  Iconic figures of this time included mathematician Isaac Newton, philosophers like John Locke and Immanuel Kant, and the Founding Fathers of the United States, who drew on the era’s passion for intellectual liberty, independence, rational thought and equality in creating the Declaration of Independence.  Emotion and spirituality took a backseat to science and reason.  It would be impossible to overstate the impact this new movement had on Western civilization; the populist uprisings, burgeoning middle class, and growing disapproval of monarchies which marked this period continued to echo for centuries.  The theme of this era was that of the common man taming the world.  Nature was most appreciated when it was subservient to the needs of humans, whether through colonial domination or, on a smaller scale, rigorously-structured landscaping with nary a leaf out of place.  Art of the time celebrated a strict adherence to form and structure as the creative ideal.  Small wonder that as the 19th century dawned, the artists, composers and authors of Europe felt an urge to break free of constraint and go a little wild . . .

Check back next week for our multimedia tour through the Romantic period, and check out the work of some iconic painters, poets and composers who will help you get yourself in the right frame of mind to enjoy Giselle even more!

Costume sketches by Sarah Gahagan

Take a look at the sumptuous Giselle costumes we’re borrowing from the Teatro del Maggio Musical Fiorentino in Florence, Italy (the same company who loaned us that gorgeous set you saw in last week’s blog post)!  We can’t wait for you to see these fabulous costumes in motion! 

Soloist Brian Simcoe, working a fabulous velvet cape.

Soloist Ansa Deguchi (the shoes really bring the whole ensemble together, no?)

Company Artist Michael Linsmeier strikes a pose.

Principal Dancer Xuan Cheng makes a lovely peasant girl.

Principal Dancer Chauncey Parsons in Romantic Hero Mode.

Check it out! Retired OBT Dancer and teaching artist Katarina Svetlova  recently had the opportunity to introduce Timber Players Eddie Johnston (left) and Futty Danso (right) to a different kind of fancy footwork at the sneak preview of our new Oregon Ballet Theatre “Beyond the Barre” ballet classes, launching at Oregon Athletic Club at Riverplace starting February 4th.

If Futty can do it… what’s stopping you?

We invite you to add a little grace to your workout routine with our brand new barre ballet classes, being taught Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Oregon Athletic Club at Riverplace.

Classes will be in 6 week sessions, with drop in rates available. Each class is 1 hour long and will be taught by OBT teaching artists Katarina Svetlova and Hannah Downs.

Focusing on increasing core strength, balance, flexibility and that elusive thing called grace, the Oregon Ballet Theatre class will center on key ballet concepts to create a one hour workout. Classes will include both a Barre and center floor component and require no previous ballet training to attend.

Here’s the details:

Regular classes:

• Saturday at noon, starting February 4^th
• Tuesday 6:15 pm, starting February 7^th

Pricing:

• Members: $18/class (drop-in). $90 for  6-week session*)
• Non-Members: $25/class (drop-in)*. $ $120 for 6-week session*)

*The six week session price includes one class per week for a total of 6 classes

Location:

Fitness Studio, main level

Oregon Athletic Clubs at RiverPlace

0150 SW Montgomery

Portland, Oregon 97201

503.221.1212

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS

Katarina Svetlova is a retired principal dancer who danced at Oregon Ballet Theatre and in Germany at Deutsche Oper am Rhein Ballett, one of Germany’s leading classical ballet companies. She is the 2004 recipient of the prestigious Artist of the Year award from the city of Dusseldorf. In recent years (January 24-26, 2008) she performed in the sold out White Bird series Josie Moseley Dance.  She has taught in the School of OBT and presently is a teaching artist for OBT’s Education Outreach programming.

Hannah Downs performed professionally in Colorado with Aspen Ballet Company, in Utah with Ballet West, and in Oregon most recently with Tere Mathern Dance for White Bird’s Uncaged series. She has a BA in Dance from University of Oregon and holds a 200 hour teaching certification from Yoga Union.   Hannah, a teaching artist since 2000, presently teaches at PCC Sylvania and is an in-demand teaching artist with OBT’s Education Outreach department.

ABOUT OREGON ATHLETIC CLUBS + THE POINTE SPA

360° Approach to Wellness

OAC’s three state-of-the-art fitness facilities and spas located in downtown Portland, NW Portland and Hillsboro, offer a signature 360° approach to wellness with fitness, nutrition and spa services for both individuals and families. The family owned Oregon Athletic Clubs group (RiverPlace, Bethany and Hawthorn Farm Athletic Clubs), has been committed to promoting health, balance and education in the Portland Metro area since 2000. For more information: www.oregonathleticclubs.com

Take a tour of the Giselle set we’re borrowing from the Teatro del Maggio Musical Fiorentino in Florence, Italy!  If you like what you see, you’ll be excited to hear that we’re also borrowing their costumes, which are equally lush and gorgeous.  We can’t wait for you to see it on Opening Night! 

Act I

Act I

OBT Asks Staff & Dancers:

What’s your favorite holiday tradition or memory?

“We open presents on Christmas Eve because when we lived in Germany my Dad would drive around all night to the different American military bases there, delivering cookies and hot chocolate to all the soldiers that had to work on Christmas.  We spent the weeks leading up to Christmas baking all the goodies.  Other families did the same, so he was loaded down with treats.”

–Artistic Associate Anne Mueller

Marabeth Passannante (left); Claire Willett (right)

“Last year Marabeth [Passannante, Audience Services Manager) gave me her grandmother's nativity set for Christmas.  But she did it SUPER sneakily and I didn't know it was her until after.  I would come in to work and another piece would just have magically appeared on my desk.   We called it 'The Nativity Fairy' and every day I would post an update on Facebook about what I got.  This year it's a scavenger hunt! Every day I get a new clue to find another piece.  Joseph was in Christopher Stowell's office, I found an angel pinned to the back of a seat at the Keller, and the donkey was sitting by the cash register of the coffee shop down the street.  A few of the clues have been REALLY hard, but everyone in the office gets into it and we all run around hunting together.  It's the most amazing thing anyone's ever done for me.”

--Manager of Communications, Grants & Social Media Claire Willett

“The Christmas Season begins with setting up the manger scene on the mantel.  The Nativity box contains a hodge-podge of pieces collected over the years.  Various angels and dogs augment the shepherds, wise men, camels, and stable animals, giving the scene a personal touch.  The nativity scene is the first thing out (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) and the last thing away on Epiphany when we take down the tree.”

--Executive Director Diane Syrcle

“When I was a kid, the rule was that on Christmas morning, my brother and sister and I could not wake my parents up until 6 a.m.  We'd be so excited, we would all wake up around 4 a.m. and play until it was time to awake our parents.  Then, at 6 a.m., my brother would bang on his drum set to awaken our parents and set off the festivities.”

--Principal Dancer Kathi Martuza

Historian Linda Besant

Resident Lighting Designer Michael Mazzola (in the high chair)

“Cheese fondue, every Christmas Eve.”

--Principal Dancer Alison Roper

Soloist Lucas Threefoot

Principal Dancer Brett Bauer

“Eggnog.  Makino [Company Artist Makino Hayashi, his wife] makes freakin’ amazing eggnog.”

–Principal Dancer Chauncey Parsons

Company Artist Olga Krochik (left)

“We watch football.  That’s about it.”

–Company Artist Ashley Dawn