 Ballet
and Opera in the Age of Giselle by Marian Elizabeth
Smith
Marian
Smith recaptures a rich period in French musical theater
when ballet and opera were intimately connected. Focusing
on the age of Giselle at the Paris Opera (from the 1830s
through the 1840s), Smith offers an unprecedented look at
the structural and thematic relationship between the two
genres. She argues that a deeper understanding of both ballet
and opera--and of nineteenth-century theater-going culture
in general--may be gained by examining them within the same
framework instead of following the usual practice of telling
their histories separately. This handsomely illustrated
book ultimately provides a new portrait of the Opera during
a period long celebrated for its box-office successes in
both genres. (Read
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