Ballet
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Ballet music is built to support choreography, so pulse, phrase length, danceability, and entrance-point clarity matter as much as melody or harmony. It can move from featherweight pastoral scenes and noble adagios to propulsive ensemble numbers, character dances, and large dramatic finales scored for full orchestra.
History
From court ballet in late-16th-century France, ballet became a central theatrical form in Paris, then reached a grand symphonic level in Imperial Russia with Tchaikovsky and the Petipa tradition; the 20th century transformed it through Ballets Russes modernism, Balanchine’s abstract ballet, and later global companies commissioning new music, so the genre now includes everything from story ballet to postminimal and cinematic stage scores.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Swan Lake — Mariinsky OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- Giselle — Orchestra of the Royal Opera HouseSpotifyYouTube
- La Bayadère — Bolshoi Theatre OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- Romeo and Juliet — London Symphony OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- The Rite of Spring — The Cleveland OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- Petrushka — Royal Concertgebouw OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Oxford Music Online
- Grove Music Online
- ballet catalog notes from Mariinsky, Royal Opera House, and Decca