Heinrich Heine

The peasant girl Giselle discovers the true identity of her lover Albrecht – and that he is promised to another. Giselle kills herself. Her soul enters the ranks of the Wilis – shades of young women who died before their wedding day. All men that come across their path are compelled to dance themselves to death, and Albrecht falls into their trap. Giselle’s intercession saves Albrecht and releases her soul from the Wilis’ power.

The peasant girl Giselle discovers the true identity of her lover Albrecht – and that he is promised to another. This is one of The Royal Ballet’s most loved and admired productions, faithful to the spirit of the 1841 original yet always fresh at each revival. This performance features former Bolshoi star and now Royal Ballet Principal Natalia Osipova in a breath-taking interpretation of the title role.

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

In Dichterliebe (2000), a film by Oliver Herrmann based on Robert Schumann’s song-cycle of the same name, the boundaries between song recital and reality blur. The chosen setting – a night club in the centre of Berlin – creates the intimate, dark salon atmosphere in which the songs might also have been performed at the time they were written. Returning to origins in this way, the film departs from the concert atmosphere in which song-recitals are normally performed nowadays.

Based on Heinrich Heine’s poem, this film traces humanity’s longing for beauty and fulfilment, as expressed through a song about the legendary island of Bimini and its magical well whose waters revive a person’s strength and youth.

This film collage is based on Heinrich Heine’s poem "Lorelei". Traditional German postcards were used with images of the siren on the Rhine who lured fishermen and sailors to their death with her beauty and song. The stop-trick was used to film the participants who recite the poem, as well as old beer-drinkers who sing in beer cellars.