The whining demon, or some translation of Giselle in Italy

Abstract

Giselle (Paris 1841), an emblematic ballet of Romanticism, within a short distance of its debut was performed throughout Europe and spread to Italy as well, in an articulated journey that began in 1842 from Turin to reach a considerable number of venues during the 19th century. The title is immediately transformed into Gisella, in a translation that is not only linguistic but cross-cultural: the play staged in the peninsula, not always welcomed, is indeed frequently the result of an adaptation to the existing practices in each theater and is often modified in its contents in order to make it comprehensible and agreeable to local audiences. The essay looks in particular at the first two Italian versions of Giselle, the one in Turin, with Nathalie Fitzjames and Arthur Saint-Léon, and the one in Milan (1843), with Fanny Cerrito and Francesco Merante, focusing on their dramaturgical structure, starting with their respective librettos, and their audience reception, based on the coeval press.