La Fille mal gardée by Hérold, to 16 maalis 2023, Alkaen (2022/2023), Musiikinjohto Guillermo García Calvo, Johannes Witt, Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna, Austria

Lise loves colas, but her mother chose someone else for her: Alain, the simple-minded son of a rich winegrower. The young couple therefore has to come up with some ideas to get together. In 1960, Frederick Ashton created an enchanting comedy with his ballet about the »ill protected girl«, which makes viewers of all ages laugh and marvel. Brilliant as a dancer, he unfolds his lively figures in fine solos and duets, ensemble scenes colored by folklore and humorous pantomimes. Artful games with colorful ribbons are just as much a highlight as a clog dance or an extremely funny performance by hens and roosters. The story is based on a ballet pantomime by Jean Dauberval, which premiered to music by Franz Ignaz Beck on July 1, 1789 at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux under the title Le Ballet de la paille, ou il n'est qu'un pas du mal au bien became. Since the audience found a welcome identification figure in the rebellious Lise shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution, the piece spread rapidly in ever new choreographic and musical versions across the stages of the world and soon established its long tradition of performances in Vienna as well: as early as 1794 came it for the premiere in the k. & k. Court theater in a choreography by the Italian Salvatore Viganò. Frederick Ashton's version has been on the repertoire of the Vienna State Ballet since 1986. Ashton had John Lanchbery rearrange the music that Ferdinand Hérold had composed in 1828 for a new version in Paris by the Dauberval pupil Jean-Pierre Aumer. In addition to some newly composed scenes, the famous Fanny Elssler pas de deux of the two protagonists to music from Gaetano Donizetti's opera L'elisir d'amore has also found its way back into the score, that for the Parisian Lise debut of the famous Viennese dancer Fanny Elssler had been inserted into the piece.