UMS Concert Program, November 23, 1965: Grand Ballet Classique De France -- Claude Giraud

Season: Eighty-Seventh
Concert: Seventh
Complete Series: 3496
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1965 Eighty-Seventh Season 1966
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Seventh Program Eighty-seventh Annual Choral Union Series Complete series 3496
Grand Ballet Classique de France
Under the auspices of the Association Francaise d'Action Artistique
Tuesday Evening, November 23, 1965, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Claude Giraud, Director
LIANE DAYDE GENIA MELIKOVA
MAINA GIELGUD MARIANNA HILARIDES
BEATRICE MOSENA
VIKTOR RONA FELIX BLASZKA
GIL URBAIN MICHEL NUNES
Jacqueline de Min, Joelle des Marais, Marie-Jose Laure, Sabine Salle Joel Dabin, Nicolas Muller, Rony Leal
Daphne Alexandra, Christiane Berut, Jacqueline Canal, Rejane Douarre,
Corinne Dupuy, Laurence Fores, Viola Hegent, Monique Jourdain,
Hilma McQueen, Helene Rames, Anne Sevestre
Ballet Mistress: Beatrice Mosena Conductor: Jean Doussard Pianist: Pietro Galli
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM
DIVERTISSEMENT
Music by Gounod Choreography by Beatrice Mosena
Marianna Hilarides Maina Gielgud Felix Blaszka or Gil Urbain or Michel Nunes
and
Miles Alexandre, Berut, Canal, De Min, Dupuy, Des Marais, Fores, Hegent, Jourdain, Laure, McQueen, Sevestre, Douarre, Rames
Faust was performed for the first time at the Theatre Lyrique on March 19, 1859. Ten years later, when his work was revived on the stage of the Opera, Gounod had to adapt it to the requirements of a more solemn theatre and composed the recitatives and a ballet, based on the episode of the Walpurgisnacht in Goethe's tragedy. This most popular piece of the lyrical repertoire is presented here as a choreographic divertissement, with a new choreography by Mme Beatrice Mosena.
PAS DE DEUX--"ESMERALDA'1
Music by Cesare Pugni Choreography after Jules Perrot
Genia Melikova and Gil Urbain
INTERMISSION
GISELLE Ballet Pantomime in two acts
by V. Saint-Georges, Theophile Gautier and Coralli
Music by Adolphe Adam
Choreography inspired by Coralli
Decors and Costumes by Alexandre Benois
Giselle............Liane Dayde
Albrecht............Viktor Rona
Hilarion...........Felix Blaszka
Berthe, mother of Giselle.......Beatrice Mosena
The Duke............Joel Dabin
Princess Bathilde.........Viola Hegent
Wilfrid...........Nicholas Muller
Pas de deux of the grape-harvesters Jacqueline de Min ; Michel Nunes
Queen of the Willis........Maina Gielgud
Giselle's friends and country men . Miles Alexandre, Berut, Canal,
De Min, Dupuy, Des Marais, Fores, Hegent, Jourdain, McQueen, Salle, Sevestre, Douarre, Rames
The Willis...........Sabine Salle
Miles Alexandre, Berut, Canal, DeMin, Dupuy, Des Marais, Fores, Hegent, Jourdatn, McQueen, Salle, Sevestre, Douarre, Rames
The Story
Act One: In a quiet, sunny small village, full of simple people, Giselle, a young peasant girl, lives a happy innocent life, naively enjoying the bright blue sky and the songs of the birds, confidently reposing in her pure, luminous love for Albrecht, who, she believes, loves her in return. A forester who is in love with her tries to make it apparent to Giselle that her beloved Albrecht is by no means the simple peasant he pretends to be, but a nobleman in disguise who is deceiving her. The forester breaks into the house Albrecht has rented in the village and finds there a silver sword, on the hilt of which a coat of arms is engraved. He is now convinced that Albrecht is hiding his real identity. At this moment, a group of noblemen stops at the village to rest after a day's hunt. The peasants give them a friendly welcome, but Albrecht is embarrassed and tries to ignore the group, which includes his real fiancee, Bathilde. The forester, thereupon, denounces Albrecht's perfidy to the whole village and produces the silver sword. Giselle is stricken with despair. The pure crystal-clear world of her trusting soul, of her hopes and dreams, is destroyed. She loses her mind and dies.
INTERMISSION
Act Two: At midnight, among the tombs of the silent country churchyard, the Willis, in bridal dress and crowned with flowers, loom up out of their graves and dance in the moonlight. Shining with irresistible beauty, they dance swiftly, passionately, the more swiftly, the more passionately as they feel that time is fleeing and they will have soon to step back to their ice-cold graves. Suddenly the Willis catch sight of the forester, who, full of remorse, has come to Giselle's tomb. The Queen of the Willis orders them to drag the forester into a spectral dance and finally he falls lifeless on the ground. Albrecht cannot forget Giselle either and he comes to her tomb. The Willis surround him as they did the forester, but Giselle's shade appears and protects him from the Willis' wrath. Her pure and self-forgetful maiden love saves Albrecht, and when the first rays of the rising sun drive the Willis back to their graves and Giselle's light shadow vanishes too, Albrecht is left to mourn his lost love.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS--1965-1966
All presentations are at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
In Hill Auditorium
Messiah (Handel).........Friday, December 3
Saturday, December 4
(2:30) Sunday, December 5
Benita Valente, Soprano Stanley Kolk, Tenor
Doris Mayes, Mezzo-Soprano Malcolm Smith, Bass
University Choral Union
and members of
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Mary McCall Stubbdjs, Organist
Marilyn Mason, Harpsichordist
Lester McCoy, Conductor
Messiah Tickets: $2.50--$2.00--$1.50--$1.00
Phyllis Curtin, Soprano.......Thursday, January 20
Rumanian Folk Ballet......Wednesday, February 16
To be announced........Wednesday, February 23
Monte Carlo National Orchestra .... Saturday, February 26
Paul Paray, Conductor
Michel Block, Piano Soloist
Rudolf Serkin, Pianist........Monday, March 7
National Ballet, from Washington, D.C. . . (2:30) Sunday, March 27
Tickets: $5.00--$4.50--$4.00--$3.50--$2.50--$1.50 Sold out
In Rackham Auditorium
Hermann Prey, Baritone......Wednesday, February 2
Program: Twelve songs from Kerner-Lieder, Schumann, and twelve songs from Morike-Lieder, Hugo Wolf.
Vienna Octet..........Tuesday, March 1
I Solisti Veneti.........Wednesday, March 16
Chicago Little Symphony......Thursday, March 31
Chamber Music Festival.....February 18, 19, (2:30) 20
New York Chamber Soloists, including Adele Addison, Soprano; and Charles Bressler, Tenor.
Series Tickets: $7.00--$5.00--$4.00 Single Conceits: $4.00--$3.00--$2.00
For tickets and information, address UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, Burton Tower