Morris, Mark. “The Other Giselles: Moncrieff’s Giselle, or, The Phantom Night Dancers, Loder’s The Night Dancers, and Puccini’s Le Villi.”

Morris, Mark. “The Other Giselles: Moncrieff’s Giselle, or, The Phantom Night Dancers, Loder’s The Night Dancers, and Puccini’s Le Villi.” In Collected Work: The Creation of Giselle: Classical Ballet Meets Contemporary Video Games, 51-88. Edmonton, Canada: University of Alberta, 2019.


Abstract:
Explains how three works respond to the 1841 ballet Giselle. Moncrieff's play, first performed in 1841, incorporates songs and a ballet to music adapted from Adam's score for Giselle. Moncrieff departs from Gautier's libretto for the ballet by introducing new characters, varying the incidents, and changing the dénouement. Edward Loder's The night dancers (1846), is cast in two acts, reflecting the structure of Adam's ballet, with two stage settings, but Loder deviates dramatically from Gauthier's libretto by casting the entire opera as a dream from which Giselle finally awakens, allowing for a happy ending. Puccini's Le villi (1883), includes dances—although ballets within operas were in the French, not the Italian, tradition. In Moncrieff's play and Loder's opera, Giselle is a victim; in Fontana's libretto for Puccini's opera, however, Giselle takes her revenge.