Fall of the House of Usher (published 1939)

Scene 1 // Edgar, our narrator, has received a letter from his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, telling of a disease of the mind, asking for help. It is known by all that year over year, only one member of the House of Usher survives. Arriving, Edgar is greeted by the Keepers, who lead him through the dark rooms of the fallen mansion.

Scene 2 // Roderick, has not left the House in years. He tells Edgar of his fear that he will die, attributing part of his illness his sister, Madeline’s, catalepsy—she is consumed with frequent seizures where she appears temporarily immobilized.

Scene 3 // Roderick and Madeline are twins and share some sort of deep and supernatural, probably extrasensory, bond. Roderick is certain that Madeline will also soon die. Edgar tries to cheer them with music, dances, memories of the old times. The House of Usher is powerfully sentient. The Ushers see things that others cannot. Madeline dances in the parlor and then—as Roderick predicted, and as he now declares, she dies. Roderick asks Edgar to help him entomb her body deep in the walls and catacombs of the mansion.

Scene 4 // A week later—Roderick and Usher wish away the stormy night by reading. As Edgar reads the text aloud, the sounds from the story they read can be heard resounding from below the mansion. Roderick becomes increasingly possessed with even more fear—he is convinced that they have buried Madeline alive—and that she is coming back.

Artists of Ballet Fantastique | Jeremy Bronson