LA ESMERALDA =)

So I've been researching the story and plot of the La Esmeralda ballet.. And it proves very elusive and after hours of hard work, i came up with the following excerpts from various sources to string together the whole picture.. I could not get a very detailed summary nor song structure for the ballet.. Sadly, many ballet lovers like me have been questioning the existence of the full La Esmeralda ballet video.. But most seem to think that there isnt one because the old works were 'lost' or simply no one bothered to post a full video of the ballet.. The summary of La Esmeralda is also proving elusive, with no details of the acts and scenes of the ballet unlike my previous post of Swan Lake. Or maybe because I havent looked deep enough or Ive been searching at the wrong places.. So i shall continue looking further.. (: And hopefully by the end of this post, I may have found it.. ;)

La Esmeralda is a ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes, inspired by Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, originally choreographed by Jules Perrot; with music by Cesare Pugni and design by William Grieve (scenery), D. Sloman (machinery), Mme. Copere (costumes).

It was first presented by the Ballet of her Majesty's Theatre, London on March 9, 1844 with the Ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Esmeralda, Jules Perrot as Gringoire, Arthur Saint-Leon as Phoebus, Adelaide Frassi as Fleur de Lys, and Antoine Louis Coulon as Quasimodo.

Today the ballet is presented in its full-length form only in certain parts of the world; Russia; parts of Eastern Europe; and New Jersey, United States. New Jersey Ballet introduced the full-length version for the first time in the United States in 2004. Outside of Russia, Eastern Europe and New Jersey only excerpts are given - the La Esmeralda Pas de Deux and the Pas de Six, but mostly the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux is given, which in all actuality is not originally from the ballet (it is often miscredited as having been added by Petipa to his 1886 revival of La Esmeralda).

La Esmeralda based on the story of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME by Victor Hugo according to Wikipedia.

The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools.

Esméralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo’s adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esméralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback.

She is later accused of the murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo tried to kill in jealousy, and is sentenced to death by hanging. Quasimodo saves her by bringing her to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary. Frollo rallies the truands (criminals of Paris) to charge the cathedral. The king, seeing the chaos, vetoes the law of sanctuary and commands his troops to take her out and kill her. When Quasimodo sees the truands, he assumes they are there to hurt Esméralda, so he drives them off. Frollo betrays Esméralda by handing her to the troops and watches while she is hanged. Quasimodo pushes him from Notre-Dame to his death. He then goes to Esméralda’s grave, lies next to her corpse and eventually dies of starvation. Two years later, excavationists find the skeletons of Esmeralda and Quasimodo locked in an embrace.

According to the Capital Arts Festival article of the Canadian Pacific Ballet

This classic ballet tells the story of the gypsy girl, Esmeralda, who consents to marry the poet Gringoire to save him from death at the hands of the Truands. She tells him, however, that she has married him out of pity, not love. She is desired by the evil priest, Frollo, who attempts to abduct her with the help of Quasimodo. She is saved by the arrival of Captain Phoebus and his troops. Frollo unnoticed by Phoebus, disappears and his troops capture Quasimodo. Esmeralda pleads for his release, and treats him with kindness and care. Esmeralda falls in love with Phoebus who gives her his mantle to keep.

Accompanied by Gringoire, her husband, she goes to dance at the celebrations of an engagement. Once at the festivities she finds that the celebration is for Phoebus who is engaged to be married to the beautiful and wealthy Fleur de Lys.

Phoebus, charmed by her, agrees to meet her later. Frollo spies upon the meeting between Phoebus and Esmeralda. Jealously he stabs Phoebus and then escapes, so that Esmeralda is arrested for the murder. Quasimodo intervenes and kidnaps Esmeralda, taking her to the towers of Notre Dame. Frollo finds her there and promises to save her life if she will marry him, but she refuses and he takes her to the gallows to be hung. As Esmeralda is hung, Phoebus, whose wound was not mortal, appears proving her innocence, but it is too late.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame -

Music from the Ballet Prelude

(The Cathedral of Notre Dame)

Act 1 (in 8 scenes)

Act 2 (in 8 scenes)
Act 3 (in 5 scenes)

-_____________- That was all I could find of the song structure.. After tedious research T.T, venturing into ballet groups, chatrooms, ballet articles, various Ballet Companies' websites I have still yet to find a decent summary of the BALLET production.. However there are a lot of hits on the film, operas and musicals of La Esmeralda or The Hunchback of Notre Dame. When one thinks of the ballet La Esmeralda one of course associates it with the tambourine dance.. The tambourine is the trademark of the dance and as i have witness on youtube, people get very upset and distressed in the absence of the tambourine in the Esmeralda variation.. So please contend yourself with the information that I have and enjoy the video and pictures.. =)

Tan Yuan Yuan

My favourite ballerina Natalia Osipova in Esmeralda.. (:

Ps: Special thanks to Wikipedia and The Canadian Pacific Ballet.. No copyright infringement intended.. All rights reserved to both the above.. :D