A Folk Tale

Folk Tale, A (orig. Dan. title Et folkesagn).Ballet in three acts with choreography and libretto by Bournonville, music by N. Gade and J. P. Hartmann, and design by Christensen, Lund, and Lehmann. Premiered 20 Mar. 1854 by the Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen, with J. Price. It is based on a Danish fairy story about a girl, Hilda, who lives with the trolls and saves a young nobleman Ove from their power, echoing the supernatural focus of Giselle, created thirteen years earlier. It has been revived in major productions by Lander and Borchsenius (1941), Brenaa (1969) and K. Ralov (1979), the controversially modern designs of the latter production replaced by the more traditional staging of 1991, directed by F. Andersen and A. M. Vessel Schlüter and designed by HM Queen Maygrethe II. Other productions include Berlin Opera Ballet (staged P. Schaufuss after Bournonville, Berlin, 1983) and London Festival Ballet (extracts, staged P. Schaufuss, 1988).