Ballet (music)

Ballet as musical form is a musical composition intended for ballet performance.

The same music can be used for several different ballet choreographies.

Until about the second half of the 19th century the role of music in ballet was secondary, with main emphasis being on dance, with music being a compilation of danceable tunes. Writing "ballet music" used to be a job for composers known as "specialists".

The first "symphonic" composer to try his hand at scoring music ballet was Baron Boris Fintinhof-Schell, who in 1887 created the music for the ballet The Haarlem Tulip. Petipa however chose to pass on the ballet to his Second Balletmaster, Lev Ivanov, and the work proved to be only moderately succesful. That same year Vsevolozhsky commissioned the director of music to the Imperial Italian Opera and chief conductor of ballet performances, the Italian composer/conductor Riccardo Drigo, to score music for Ivanov's The Enchanted Forest. Though the ballet was not a success the music recieved much praise, and Vsevolozhsky decided Drigo should score music for Petipa's 1889 ballet The Talisman. Drigo's simple yet wonderfully melodious and well orchestrated music for this work was hailed as a masterpiece, even prompting praise from such artists as Tchaikovsky and Alexander Benois. In 1888 Vsevolozhsky commissioned the composer Mikhail Ivanov, a former classmate of Tchaikovsky's at the Moscow Conservatory, to score music for Petipa's Grand Ballet set in ancient Rome The Vestal, which proved to be a great success. In 1889 Vsevolozhsky commissioned the composer Nicholai Krotkov to score music for Petipa's The Whims of the Butterfly, which was quite well recieved, and Krotkov would follow with music for Petipa's The Water Lily in 1890. Finally, Vsevolozhsky commissioned the great composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky to score music for Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, and following his "symphonic" example would be Johann Armshiemer for Petipa's The Calvary Halt in 1896, Pytor Schenk for Petipa's Bluebeard in 1896, and Alexander Glazunov with his scores for Petipa's Raymonda in 1898, and Les Ruses d'amour (AKA The Trial of Damis or Lady Soubrette) and The Seasons in 1900. Contrary to popular belief, Petipa nonetheless still preferred to work with "specialists" - even after the success of The Sleeping Beauty Petipa would commission one last ballet from Minkus - Kalkabrino in 1891 would prove to be the composer's last known composition - he retired to Vienna later that year. Drigo was the composer who in fact proved to be the "happy medium" between the ballet music of the "specialists" and the "symphonic" ballet music so craved by Vsevolozhsky, as Drigo followed the aesthetic lines established by the old "specialists" in melodic style and musical structure, while still lavishing upon his scores symphonic qualities with regard to orchestration and harmonic content. Although the official post of First Imperial Ballet Composer had been abolished, Drigo was in essence the successor of both Pugni and Minkus.

Adolphe Adam's Giselle, still popular worldwide, was among the first ballet scores that featured specifics of modern ballet music, such as leitmotifs - recurring musical themes that accompany certain characters or situations throughout the whole piece.

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Music may be composed specially for a ballet. Distinguishing feature of the ballet music: it is the orientation on the emotional character and motility of dance movement, connection between scene activity.But a choreographer usually chooses music that has been already composed and recorded. When choreographers select music, they think about what the music may say.Ballet movements which are found by the balletmaster not always follow the music's rhythms exactly. These movements must correspond to the music's general character. One of the first ones, who put ballets not designed for the music on the scene, was Alexander Gorsky.

Source: DanceMelody.com

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Famous ballet composers

* Cesare Pugni
* Adolphe Adam
* Léon (or Ludwig) Minkus
* Léo Delibes
* Riccardo Drigo
* Pyotr Ill'yich Tchaikovsky
* Alexander Glazunov
* Nikolai Tcherepnin
* Igor Stravinsky
* Sergei Prokofiev
* Dmitri Shostakovich
* Reinhold Glière
* Boris Asafiev
* Aram Khachaturian