Peay 1 Sharlee Peay Lindsy Cieslewicz Dance 460 29 November 2012 Intertwining Artists Art is an expressive language.

It is a valuable center that facilitates expression for new philosophies, ideals, perceptions, and even politics within its contents. History has often revealed these elements through artistic initiative. Art also possesses a unique characteristic to encourage reformative thinking. It acts as a testing ground for new philosophy due to its natural tendency to envelop and embrace innovation. These adjustments in perspective help us define (and categorize) the dawning of historical eras. What ideals are focused on during a specific time inevitably depends on its historical time period. As cultures amend and develop, artists create work according to conceptual thinking including theories or public display of common social issues relevant to their time. Therefore, all art in a specific interlude by nature is intertwined. For example, Romantic Era ballet was influenced by poems, legends, and music. Heinrich Heines folklore and the ballet it inspired were reflections of how art was influenced by analogous ideals and changing attitudes of the Romantic Era. During the Romantic time, ballet became a stage for artists to spotlight politics, social issues, or personal philosophy. During the Romantic Era it became important to emphasize stories and emotional expression rather than solely accentuating monotonous technique. John Weaver is responsible for rethinking the theoretical and theatrical nature of dance (Cohen). The Loves of Mars and Venus was a ballet that experimented with Weavers personal philosophy that emotion and expression should be considered vital elements, coupled with

Peay 2 exceptional virtuosity, to complete a ballet stage production. His ideals took part in spawning the "Romantic Movement" that dominated the arts of Europe during the first half of the 19th century. Painting, music and literature were swept up in the Romantic ideals: questioning the academic rules of the past; stressing individual expression and experimentation; and moving away from classic themes to the inclusion of more local color, supernatural beings and melodrama (Charles). Giselle not only promoted, but also epitomized these principles. Its story extended a Slav folklore written in Heinrich Heines book De lAllemagne in 1835. Giselle was based on fantastical female apparitions called wilis. According to Heine, wilis are maidens that are engaged to be married but die before their wedding. They are exceptionally passionate about dance but did not satisfy this passion when they were alive. As a result, they cannot rest peacefully in their graves. They therefore gather on the highway at midnight to lure young men and dance them to their death. The Slave word 'vila' is translated to vampire. The plural of this word is vile, wilis is probably a Germanic pronunciation of that word as a 'w' in German is pronounced like a 'v'. The wilis legend had a place in various cultures including Italy, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Poland. Each culture represented the phantom wilis in a different way. Heines legend unavoidably affected the Romantic Era. It embodied supernatural beings and melodrama. The inspiration for the first act of Giselle also came from the work of a poet, Victor Hugo. His poem, Les Fantmes is about a young Spanish girl who dies after dancing all night in a ballroom. Like Giselle she was overfond of dancing and that killed her (Hugo 35). Giselle was inspired by prose and poem introduced during the Romantic Era. Both are valuable language arts that embraced Romanticism and facilitated the production of Giselle. Collectively, artists of the Romantic Era like Heine, Hugo, and Gautier built upon each others ideas making the romantic platform possible.

Peay 3 Heine and Thophile Gautier were victims of these romantic elements. Heine was a poet and author of prose from Germany. Similarly, Gautier was a French poet, dance critic, dance libretti author, and writer of prose (Cohen). He is recognized for discovering the fantastical tale of a young maiden named Giselle. However, he credits Heine with inspiring his genius for the new ballet. He wrote a letter to Heine saying: My dear Henri Heine, while leafing through your beautiful book, de lAllemagne, a few weeks ago, I came across a charming passage (one has merely to open the volume at random). It was the passage in which you speak of white-robed elves whose hems are always damp, of water nymphs who leave traces of their little satin feet on the ceiling of the nuptial chamber, of wilis as pale as snow, those unpitying waltzers, and of all the delicious apparitions that you have met in the Hartz mountains and on the banks of the Ilse in the velvety mist of German moonlightand I said out loud, What a pretty ballet one might make of that! (Gautier, Verdy 6) This passage makes two things clear. One, that Gautier had respect for Heine. Through the way Gautier addresses and compliments Heine it is evident that he admires Heines philosophy. Both artists endorse analogous perceptions. As a result, their art work easily coincided and effectively offered a foundation of ideas which other artists could build upon. For example, Gautier turned a simple German folklore (written by another artist) into an elaborate, emotional, and famous ballet. Before composing the libretti of Giselle Gautier had been known as a critic through his ability to recount plots and describe female dancers in highly detailed, vibrant images. Because Gautier was enveloped in the arts and became a passionate dance critic, he possessed a capable eye for superior ballet. Gautier wrote ballet librettithe only man of letters to recognize the potential of ballet as a medium of poetic expression (Cohen). He was perfect for the flourishing

Peay 4 ideals of Romanticism and skillfully turned the dance book page to a new chapter that history yearned for. He endorsed John Weavers philosophy as he delved deeper to combine technique and expression. Gautier epitomizes the fusion of the arts, a heroic emblem that dared to meddle with the edges of artistic realms. It is not surprising that his ballet becomes one of the most recognized in the Romantic Era. In a related way, Heine blatantly admitted that predilection for Romanticism was deeply rooted in his personality (Bieber 313). He believed the very make up of his nature was inclined to fantasy, to losing himself in dreams. He regarded these dreams as visions of a higher reality, as means of enlarging the knowledge possible in a waking state. His soul thirsted for mythological reminiscences that could be associated with impressions of realityunquenchable symbolism consumed his being. In one of his prose called French Painters (Decamps) Heine revealed a reflection of himself that supports this claim. He stated, In art I am a supernaturalist. I believe that the artist cannot find all his types in Nature, but that the most significant types are simultaneously revealed in his soul as the inborn symbolism of inborn ideas (Bieber, Hadas 291). This passage makes it obvious that as an artist, Heine reflected the changing attitudes of his time period. He endorsed fantasy because he believed it positively affected the brainif it could be consciously related to reality. During his visit to Paris France Heine discovered that the enchanting culture influenced him. Not only had he discovered greater religious liberation but also an ability to write more completely and effectively. His first writings in France were successful. A few weeks preceding his arrival to Paris, Heine began writing reports on the Paris art exhibition. Later within that year, he commenced a job important to his career and favor with the French public. He began writing for the Allgemeine Zeitung. This offered him an important circle of readers. He was entrusted with the task of contributing pieces on important events or

Peay 5 characterizations of significant tendencies of the political and social life of France (Bieber, Hadas 283). The public evidently enjoyed reading his work and trusted his viewpoints. With the conviction of the French people, Heine wrote books to bridge the gaps of misconceptions between Germany and France. He believed the French had erroneous views about German beliefs (Holub 6). Later in his life he published a French translation of his book De lAllemagne. These valuable decisions enabled Gautier to read the passage that brought a new and famous ballet to the stage. Such events reinforce inevitable connectivity within the arts. It demonstrates how every art department is needed to ensure artistic progression. It also elucidates Heine as a figure outfitted with the right equipment to advance the changing attitudes in society. Artists worlds are intertwined. This causes them to think alike promoting similar innovation, change, and agendas through the art that influences historical time periods. During a new era the arts, and its different departments, affect one another due to overlying themes throughout the world. Artistic elements can be analyzed to discover attitudes found throughout the ages. The Romantic Era perfectly exemplifies this principle. Heines wilis folklore inspired the famous romantic ballet, Giselle. This is a direct reflection of how art was not only influenced by corresponding ideals, but also revealed changing attitudes of the Romantic Era.

Peay 6 Works Cited Gautier, Thophile and Violette Verdy. Giselle. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970. Print. Bieber, Hugo. Heinrich Heine A Biographical Anthology. Trans. Moses Hadas. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1956. Print. Hine, Heinrich. French Painters Decamps. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1831. Print. Cohen, Selma Jean. John Weaver. The International Encyclopedia of Dance (1998): n.pag. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. Cohen, Selma Jean. Gautier, Thophile. The International Encyclopedia of Dance (1998): n.pag. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. Hugo, Victor. Les Orientales. n.p. 1829. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. Holub, Robert C. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). University of California, Berkley n.p.113. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. Charles, Gerard. Giselle. BalletMet Columbus, 2001. Web. 13 Oct. 2012.