Giselle Storyline

Act I
A pleasant valley in Germany
In Germany, it is a tradition to celebrate the vine harvest by drinking new wine at a different cottage in the village each day. The cottage selected was marked by a wreath with a wine jug in the centre hanging over the door. On this occasion the cottage where the peasant girl Giselle lives with her Mother, Berthe, is to be the scene of the celebration.

Giselle has fallen in love with Albrecht, Duke of Silesia, who, disguised as a peasant and using the hut opposite Giselle's cottage to hide his nobleman's dress, courts the unsuspecting girl. Hilarion, a gamekeeper who suspects the identity of his rival, is also in love with Giselle. The vintagers return with the last gathering of grapes and join Giselle and Albrecht in a dance but Giselle's mother is afraid that her passion for dancing will kill her delicate daughter who will then fall under the spell of the Wilis. The peasants are frightened by this but Giselle is amused at her mother's concern, and continues to celebrate the wine harvest and is crowned Queen of the Vine.

The Prince of Courland with his daughter, Bathilde, and hunting party stop at Giselle's cottage to taste the new wine. Giselle admires Bathilde and her clothes not knowing that she is engaged to Duke Albrecht. When Hilarion unmasks the true situation the shock is too great for Giselle who loses her reason and dies.

Act II
A forest clearing beside a pool at night
Beneath some tree stands a cross on which is carved the name, Giselle. Hilarion mourns Giselle at her tomb but an air of mystery pervades the forest and wilis, led by their queen, Myrtha, appear. The wilis are supernatural vampire-like spirits of betrothed girls who have been inordinately fond of dancing and died as the result of being jilted by faithless lovers.

Attired in their bridal dresses, they dance in the moonlight, determined to be revenged on all men. They lure any passers by to their part of the forestand force them to dance until they collapse from exhaution and die. Albrecht, too, visits Giselle's grave, repenting of the part he played in her death. Both Hilarion and Albrecht are trapped by the Wilis. For Hilarion there is no escape. Giselle's deep love for Albrecht saves him from the power of the relentless Queen and her attendant wilis. With the coming of dawn the wili's power is ended and they disappear leaving Albrecht to take a last farewell of Giselle.