What is The Ballet of the Nuns?
{{italictitle}} {{Infobox ballet | name = The Ballet of the Nuns | image = Maria Taglioni Kriehuber.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Marie Taglioni, 1839 | choreographer = Filippo Taglioni | composer = [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]] | librettist = Eugene Scribe | based_on = ''Quarante Miracles dits de Notre-Dame'' | premiere = 22 November 1831 | place = [[Paris Opéra]] | ballet_company = [[Paris Opéra Ballet]] | characters = Bertram<br />Robert le Diable<br />Helena, an Abbess<br />Ghosts of Nuns | designer = Henri Duponchel<br />Pierre Ciceri | setting = Sainte-Rosalie Cloister in ruins | created_for = [[Marie Taglioni]] | genre = Gothic Romanticism | type = [[Romantic ballet]] }} '''''The Ballet of the Nuns''''' is the first ''[[ballet blanc]]'' and the first [[romantic ballet]].<ref name=St22/> It is an episode in Act III of [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]]'s [[grand opera]], ''Robert le Diable''. It [[wikt:premiere#Verb|premiered]] in November 1831 at the [[Paris Opéra]]. The [[choreography]] (now lost) was created by either [[Filippo Taglioni]] or [[Jean Coralli]].<ref name=kiss>Kisselgoff</ref> The short ballet tells of deceased [[nun]]s rising from their [[tomb]]s in a ruined [[cloister]] to [[wikt:seduce|seduce]] the [[knight]], Robert le Diable. At the end of the ballet, the white-clad nuns return to their tombs. The ballet was created because officials at the Paris Opéra wanted to [[wikt:demonstrate|demonstrate]] the building's newly installed gas lighting. The lighting was capable of creating ghastly effects.<ref name=K142/> ''The Ballet of the Nuns'' starred [[Marie Taglioni]] as the Abbess Helena. Although opening night was marred with a few mishaps, Taglioni made her indelible mark on the ballet world in the role. She became known for her ethereal qualities and her moral purity, and is one of the most celebrated ballerinas in history.<ref name=K142/> == Story == The ballet opens with Bertram, Robert le Dia