1789 · Bordeaux. Jean Dauberval created La Fille mal gardée at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, making it one of the oldest ballets still regularly performed. Its appeal was unusual for the period: instead of gods, princes, or supernatural tragedy, the story centered on recognizable village characters, a stubborn mother, and a young woman determined to marry for love.
1828 · Paris and the Hérold score. Jean-Pierre Aumer restaged the ballet for the Paris Opera with a new score assembled and arranged by Ferdinand Hérold. This musical lineage became the basis for later French and British versions, although individual numbers and orchestrations continued to change as the ballet traveled.
1864 · The Hertel tradition. Paul Taglioni mounted a new production in Berlin with an entirely new score by Peter Ludwig Hertel. That version became especially important in Russia. Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov reshaped the ballet for the Imperial stage, and Alexander Gorsky later revised it for the Bolshoi in 1903. The Hertel/Gorsky line developed its own choreography, interpolated music, and famous pas de deux material, much of which now survives independently in galas and ballet competitions.
1960 · Ashton’s Royal Ballet version. Frederick Ashton created the production that is now the best-known full-length version in the West. John Lanchbery reworked and orchestrated Hérold’s music, while Ashton built the ballet around English pastoral comedy, intricate mime, ribbon dances, the celebrated clog dance, and the affectionate relationship between Lise and Colas. The Serbian National Theatre reference above follows this Hérold–Lanchbery/Ashton tradition.
Why the variations do not always match. Today, several production lineages coexist. A variation labeled “Lise” or “Colas” may come from Ashton’s 1960 staging, from the Hertel/Gorsky Russian tradition, or from a later competition edition that preserves only part of an older pas de deux. Music may also have been interpolated from other composers. That is why the same character can appear with different choreography, different music, and even a different place in the story depending on the production.
