Modern Ballet
tagStarted 1910Peak 1910–1955Last big hit 1957
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Modern ballet is sharper-edged than 19th-century ballet music, with driving ostinatos, harder percussion, asymmetric accents, dissonance, neoclassical dryness, or primitivist force. Orchestration often becomes more coloristic and physically aggressive, turning the pit into a dramatic engine rather than merely a dance support system.
History
The decisive break came with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, especially Stravinsky, then continued through Ravel, Prokofiev, Bartók, de Falla, and Copland as ballet absorbed modernism without giving up theatrical clarity; choreographers from Fokine to Balanchine and later modern-dance innovators made these scores central documents of 20th-century classical rhythm and movement.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- The Rite of Spring — Orchestre de la Suisse RomandeSpotifyYouTube
- Daphnis et Chloé — Boston Symphony OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- Romeo and Juliet — London Symphony OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- Apollo — The Cleveland OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- The Miraculous Mandarin — Royal Concertgebouw OrchestraSpotifyYouTube
- Billy the Kid — Los Angeles PhilharmonicSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Oxford Music Online
- Grove Music Online
- Ballets Russes and 20th-century ballet notes from Decca, DG, and Naxos