favorite ballet music composer?

[v***@webtv.net]

[Paul Ilechko]

***@webtv.net wrote:
I have to disagree with you - <blank> is definitely not the best ballet
music composer, there are many who are better. Stravinsky would probably
be my top choice.

[David Wake]

***@webtv.net writes:
I hate to be conventional, but it would have to be Tchaikovsky.
Despite what some seem to think, writing popular and accessible music
isn't incompatible with being a great composer.

David

[Alan Cooper]

Post by David Wake
I hate to be conventional, but it would have to be Tchaikovsky.
Despite what some seem to think, writing popular and accessible music
isn't incompatible with being a great composer.

. . .and the charming ballets are infinitely superior to his turgid
symphonies, imo. (So are the orchestral suites, the string quartets,
and some of the operas).

AC

[Todd Schurk]

Post by Alan Cooper

Post by David Wake
I hate to be conventional, but it would have to be Tchaikovsky.
Despite what some seem to think, writing popular and accessible music
isn't incompatible with being a great composer.

. . .and the charming ballets are infinitely superior to his turgid
symphonies, imo. (So are the orchestral suites, the string quartets,
and some of the operas).
AC

I'll pick Prokofiev as my favorite ballet composer. R&J one of the
greatest scores of any kind and Cinderella also a marvel of imagination.

[MrT]

My vote goes three-ways, to Igor Stravinsky, Manuel de Falla and
Bohuslav Martinu. Schulhoff's Ogelala is not chopped liver, either. I
no longer like the old-fashioned ballets of Tchaikovsky. Sorry.
Prokofiev is OK, a bit mechanical-sounding but with reasonably good
tunes.

The Martinu ballets kick ass and should be programmed frequently.

Best,

MrT

[Jon Alan Conrad]

And my vote goes five ways.

Tchaikovsky: perfect small forms, each distinctively clothed in
unforgettable instrumental coloration. Anybody who had created
NUTCRACKER, SWAN LAKE, and SLEEPING BEAUTY could rest content with that
as a lifetime's work (and I do not say this at the expense of his
symphonies and other creations, many of which I adore).

Delibes: Tchaikovsky admitted that he's the one who showed him what was
possible. I still listen to COPPELIA and SYLVIA with great pleasure.
Perfectly crafted light music.

Stravinsky: Can't ignore FIREBIRD, PETROUSHKA, and RITE OF SPRING.

Prokofiev: I actually don't know CINDERELLA yet. But I love ROMEO AND
JULIET beyond all measure.

My oddball choice: Britten. He wrote only one, and many give little, if
any respect to THE PRINCE OF THE PAGODAS. But I inhale it like oxygen,
start to finish. It's his biggest achievement in exploring and just
plain having fun with the sounds an orchestra can make -- sort of his
"Grown-Up's Guide to the Orchestra."

JAC

[c***@comcast.net]

My choices would come down pretty much the same. If I had to choose just
one, it would be Prokofiev for R&J. I don't know Cinderella, either, even
though there's a recording (Slatkin) sitting on my shelf. Don't know the
Britten; sounds like something to investigate.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California

[Richard Loeb]

Post by c***@comcast.net
My choices would come down pretty much the same. If I had to choose just
one, it would be Prokofiev for R&J. I don't know Cinderella, either, even
though there's a recording (Slatkin) sitting on my shelf. Don't know the
Britten; sounds like something to investigate.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California

Yes I have never left a performance of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
unmoved - the end is shattering. Richard

[j***@aol.com]

Post by Richard Loeb

Post by c***@comcast.net
My choices would come down pretty much the same. If I had to choose just
one, it would be Prokofiev for R&J. I don't know Cinderella, either, even
though there's a recording (Slatkin) sitting on my shelf. Don't know the
Britten; sounds like something to investigate.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California

Yes I have never left a performance of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
unmoved - the end is shattering. Richard

Same here, though I don't think I could forget the irrepressible lift I
get from Swan Lake, either. And Petrushka.

Much ballet bores me, if I'm in the wrong mood: I seem consistently to
be in the wrong mood to enjoy Giselle. I don't find much appeal to it.

--Jeff

[Jon Alan Conrad]

Post by j***@aol.com
I seem consistently to
be in the wrong mood to enjoy Giselle. I don't find much appeal to it.

I'm with you. So, for whatever it may be worth, was John Culshaw, who
refers to it as "unspeakably boring" in his autobiography. (He recalls
producing a recording of it, conducted by Karajan.)

JAC

[Larry Rinkel]

Post by Jon Alan Conrad

Post by j***@aol.com
I seem consistently to
be in the wrong mood to enjoy Giselle. I don't find much appeal to it.

I'm with you. So, for whatever it may be worth, was John Culshaw, who
refers to it as "unspeakably boring" in his autobiography. (He recalls
producing a recording of it, conducted by Karajan.)
JAC

As music, it is indeed unspeakably boring. As the score for a ballet with a
rather silly story and many superb opportunities for dancing, it is
perfectly serviceable. (I admit though that I don't hear much difference in
quality between the Adam I know and the Delibes.) As for me, my favorite
ballet composers are undoubtedly Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. But as has been
hinted about in this thread, there is very effective "ballet" music that was
never intended by its composer for the ballet. My idiosyncratic
classification of ballet music goes something like this:

1) Music that was intended originally for the ballet but that is equally
effective if not more so as concert music or on CD.
- This would include scores like the three Tchaikovsky ballets, Prokofiev's
Cinderella and Romeo, and most of the Stravinsky scores. Having seen
Firebird, Apollo, Orpheus, Baiser de la Fée, and Agon in the Balanchine
choreography, I believe they take on an additional dimension when one sees
them danced. Bernstein's Fancy Free as choreographed by Jerome Robbins is
another score that truly comes to life when one sees it staged. But then
there are also scores that survive today more as concert pieces than as
actual ballet scores. I'm primarily a devotee of the New York City Ballet,
but I'm not aware of any companies that have Jeux or The Miraculous Mandarin
in their active repertoires. As for Le Sacre, I've seen it danced twice,
once on a double bill with Petrouchka done by the Maurice Béjart troupe, and
the other time at the Met as part of their Stravinsky triple bill.
Petrouchka is in fact extremely stageworthy, but both times the choreography
for Le Sacre simply seemed silly. I find it more powerful as a choreography
of the mind.

2) Music that was intended originally for the ballet and which has little of
interest purely as music.
- Here I would nominate a score like Giselle, which has the nutritive value
of cardboard, but perhaps also the Arvo Part music Christopher Wheeldon used
for one of his most acclaimed works, After the Rain. Though Wheeldon's
ballet as danced by Jock Soto and Wendy Wheelan at NYCB was breathtaking, I
found the score simplistic - and yet entirely supportive of the
choreography.

3) Music not intended by its composer for the ballet but which has become
ballet music by virtue of great choreography.
- A perfect example is Bizet's Symphony in C, which isn't heard very often
in concert but became the score for one of Balanchine's most delightful
ballets. This holds true of Balanchine's treatment of the Brahms-Schoenberg
quartet, Jerome Robbins's Goldberg Variations, and many others. Of the
Bach/Robbins, I wrote here a few months ago on a Goldberg Variations thread
that "the variety of permutations and combinations Robbins comes up with is
dazzling, starting with the theme as danced by a couple in 18th-century garb
and eventually building to an exhilarating Quodlibet that puts some two
dozen dancers into all kinds of intricate formations - then ending with the
original couple dancing the return of the theme. It's endlessly fascinating
to see how Robbins, taking almost all the repeats, both mirrors the score
(as in his choreography for many of the canons) and plays against it (as in,
for example, a pas de quatre where the first repeat ends in a closed
formation at stage center and the second ends in an open formation at all
four stage corners). But it was that Quodlibet, above all, that was beyond
incredible."

I have yet to see Mark Morris's choreography for Handel's Allegro/Penseroso,
but am planning to do so this month, as it is also has a reputation as a
score that has been singularly transformed by the choreography.

4) Music that has been used for the ballet but which is inappropriate for
choreography.
- The best example I can give is Christopher Wheeldon's recent ballet
"Klavier," using the Adagio from the Hammerklavier sonata. Robert Gottlieb's
review of this piece explains the problem expertly: "The music he's chosen
is the third movement-the 18-minute adagio sostenuto-from Beethoven's
towering Hammerklavier piano sonata, Opus 106. This is one of the most
profound, and thorny, of Beethoven's works, comparable in density and depth
to the last quartets. It isn't easy to perform; it isn't even easy to
absorb. But one thing about it is clear: Its monumental architecture is
crucial to understanding any part of it; the adagio movement shouldn't be
made to stand alone. Listen to any recording ... and you'll realize why
dropping in on the Hammerklavier is not only impertinent but futile. This is
not music that wants to be danced to. Balanchine warned against
choreographing to Beethoven, and here's further proof that he was right...
The more you concentrate on it, the less relevant the dancing is; the more
you concentrate on the dancing, the less you understand why such great music
has been reduced to background sound. Wheeldon doesn't work from inside this
music-no one could. Instead, he only uses it to establish the mood."
http://www.observer.com/20060206/20060206_Robert_Gottlieb_culture_gottliebdance.asp

[Lookingglass]

"Larry Rinkel" <***@optunderline.net> wrote in message news:tQ7Pf.16$***@fe11.lga...

(snip)

Post by Larry Rinkel
As music, it is indeed unspeakably boring. As the score for a ballet with
a rather silly story and many superb opportunities for dancing, it is
perfectly serviceable. (I admit though that I don't hear much difference
in quality between the Adam I know and the Delibes.) As for me, my
favorite ballet composers are undoubtedly Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.

I am not familiar with any ballet or opera (and a lot of plays) that does
not have a "silly" plot... it seems to me that "theatre" is silly by
nature... though it can be, and often is, a profound and illuminating
experience. I think you must always suspend your belief before the
proscenium... then you can receive the full benefit of the work being
performed... Dancing swans?... a puppet's ghost?... the spirit of Arithmetic
or a Teapot and china cup (L'Enfant et les Sortileges/Ravel)... all quite
silly with some wonderful music.

I very much enjoy the music for Giselle and Coppelia, and all the other
fluffy scores produced for "silly" ballets... must ALL music be deep and
profound?... I think not... sometimes fluff is the order of the day. These
two scores particularly...and Delibes score for SYLVIA are tuneful and
dancingly written... the Giselle score is very effective and evocative of
the "silly" plot... but one I believe that captures the pathos of the story.
It is light stuff, true, but when listened to without prejudice, is as
profound within it's own borders, as is Petrushka in his cell, or the
Bluebird at a wedding feast... in my very humble opinion. It never fails to
touch my spirit... both the silly story and the simple music.

...(I also love my Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky too).

...it is certainly better than a car crash... ;^)

dave
www.Shemakhan.com

[Lookingglass]

One of my absolutely favorite ballets started out as "Sins of my old age"...
LA BOUTIQUE FANTASQUE ...music by Rossini as orchestrated by Resphighi...
brilliant.

And while I love Prokofiev's ROMEO AND JULIET, I think his CINDERELLA is
vastly underrated... I love both but Cinderella is "special"... imvho.

...and GISELLE is a favorite also... and SLEEPING BEAUTY... and SWAN LAKE...
oh... and PETRUSHKA...

OH HELL...........! I can't choose!

dave
www.Shemakhan.com

[Paul Ilechko]

Post by Jon Alan Conrad
Stravinsky: Can't ignore FIREBIRD, PETROUSHKA, and RITE OF SPRING.

But you did ignore my faves: Les Noces, Pulcinella, Agon and Apollo :-(

[Andy Evans]

Stravinsky - though I rarely listen to the Rite or Petrushka,
preferring the later works - and Falla who I listen to a great deal.

[Andy Evans]

http://www.cmi.univ-mrs.fr/~esouche/danse/balcompo.html>

This site helped my find some more oddball choices - how could I have
overlooked the following:
Debussy - L'Apres midi d'un Faun and especially Jeux

Not sure if we can include music that has 'become' ballets, e.g.
Ravel Daphnis
Rimsky - Sheherezade
Schumann - Carnaval

[Curtis Croulet]

Sacre bleu! How could I forget Daphnis, one of my all-time favorite pieces
of music! OK, Ravel is up there with Prokofiev.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California

[JohnGavin]

Post by Andy Evans
http://www.cmi.univ-mrs.fr/~esouche/danse/balcompo.html>
This site helped my find some more oddball choices - how could I have
Debussy - L'Apres midi d'un Faun and especially Jeux
Not sure if we can include music that has 'become' ballets, e.g.
Ravel Daphnis

Actually, Daphnis WAS composed as a ballet! It is rarely performed as
such because it is exceedingly difficult to dance to.

Back in the 70s there was an all-Ravel festival and the NY City Ballet.
They did La Valse, Gaspard, Mother Goose etc. Very memorable
performances. Ravel rules!!!

[Raymond Hall]

<***@webtv.net> wrote in message news:7331-44086A31-***@storefull-3331.bay.webtv.net...
Le festin de l'araignée (Spider's Banquet) by Roussel is one ballet that is
often forgotten.

Tchaikovsky is the best ballet composer, even surpassing Prokofiev imo.

Ray H
Taree

[v***@webtv.net]

im glad someone finally mentioned my favorite which is delibes which did
coppelia, sylvia, la source and some other minor pieces, then
tchaikovsky is my second favorite with sleeping beauty being my favorite
of his, then swan lake and then nutcracker, adam is my third favorite
which no one mentioned yet who did giselle, some others i like are the
ones by debussy mentioned previously, gounod who did faust, weber who
did invitation to the dance and ponchielli who did dance of the hours,
seems the french have the best ballet music as far as what i like the
best.

[Gerard]

like are the ones by debussy mentioned previously, gounod who did
faust, weber who did invitation to the dance and ponchielli who did
dance of the hours, seems the french have the best ballet music as
far as what i like the best.

You have a strange definition of "ballet music composer".

[v***@webtv.net]

some composers did very little ballet music or had music that was
adapted for ballet like the latter ones i mentioned, some composers i do
not see connected to ballet music but could have adaptations like grieg,
rossini and strauss.

[j***@earthlink.net]

Delibes has my favorite lately, with Tchaikovsky a close second.

(Please note subject line: "favorite," not simply "best.")

jy

[Brendan R. Wehrung]

Post by j***@earthlink.net
Delibes has my favorite lately, with Tchaikovsky a close second.
(Please note subject line: "favorite," not simply "best.")
jy

There's a number of favorites in this set, but I don't think they get
presented outside of Scandinavia. Don't travel well, I suppose.

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/Special%20Offers/DACOCD631-9.htm

Brendan

[Starobin]

A lot of good choices in this thread. I'd also mention two wonderful
ballet composers who were also both fine conductors- Bernstein and
Pierne.

ds

[k***@yahoo.co.uk]

I remember reading somewhere that Gounod sub-contracted out the "Faust"
Ballet Music to Delibes, who is said to have composed it as a favour to
his colleague. However, experts have contested this assertion. Still,
there are parts of the "Faust" Ballet Music which do rather resemble
bits of "Coppelia" and "Sylvia" ... or maybe all French ballet music
sounds alike anyway?

[Jon Alan Conrad]

Post by k***@yahoo.co.uk
I remember reading somewhere that Gounod sub-contracted out the "Faust"
Ballet Music to Delibes, who is said to have composed it as a favour to
his colleague. However, experts have contested this assertion.

The question seems to arise on the basis of the title-page information
for the piano-vocal score of the grand-opera version (i.e., as revised
for the Paris Opera from its opera-comique origins). It says something
like "Opera in 5 Acts, complete with the Ballet Music, by Leo Delibes."
It is well known that Delibes created the piano reduction for this
opera, and the "by" credited would normally be taken to refer to that
(as it does in other piano scores). But some have decided that it
refers to authorship of the ballet music. If that were the case, it is
strange that there is no other reference to this subcontracting
anywhere, and the only "evidence" for it is the interpretation of a
preposition.

Post by k***@yahoo.co.uk
Still,
there are parts of the "Faust" Ballet Music which do rather resemble
bits of "Coppelia" and "Sylvia" ... or maybe all French ballet music
sounds alike anyway?

Delibes had set the standard for what ballet music was supposed to
sound like -- he virtually invented it (as Tchaikovsky acknowledged).
So it's not surprising if Gounod (who was certainly good at tuneful,
well-orchestrated music on his own) followed suit.

JAC

[a***@aol.com]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[Lookingglass]

Post by a***@aol.com

Post by Lookingglass
One of my absolutely favorite ballets started out as "Sins of my old age"...
LA BOUTIQUE FANTASQUE ...music by Rossini as orchestrated by Resphighi...
brilliant.
And while I love Prokofiev's ROMEO AND JULIET, I think his CINDERELLA is
vastly underrated... I love both but Cinderella is "special"... imvho.
...and GISELLE is a favorite also... and SLEEPING BEAUTY... and SWAN LAKE...
oh... and PETRUSHKA...
OH HELL...........! I can't choose!
dave
www.Shemakhan.com

I have spent a lifetime playing ballet and here are some of my
favourites, not in any particular order, but mostly because all contain
either brilliant or interesting orchestration as well as providing
wonderful and apt music for the dancers.
Delibes (the father of the modern ballet orchestra and who first put
the pit on equal terms with the stage): Sylvia, Coppelia, La Source.
Ravel: Sheerly brilliant and subtle writing in Daphnis and Chloe and
Mother Goose.
Tchaikovsky: All three ballets - Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty quite
taxing to play as you feel you've played a couple of the symphonies
back to back. Probably the most purely symphonic writing in ballet
(unless someone sets ballet to a symphony of course)
Vaughan Williams: Job - wonderful music much of it of intense nobility,
the Sarabande of the Sons of the Morning being a good example.
Stravinsky: All of it. Petroushka, in particular, helps create a
wonderful ballet.
Rossini-Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque, a tribute from one brilliant
orchestrator to another.
Herold/Rossini and others (arranged Lanchbery): La Fil Mal Gardee
The ballet: Return to a Strange Land - a mix of score from a great deal
of Janacek.
Icicles: uses the symphonic music of Martinu, in particular symphonies
4 and 5 where the Ice Queen makes her appearance to the beautiful
adagio of No 4.
Mozart: Le Petit Riens
Martinu (whose rhythmic music must be a dream for choreographers): The
Butterly That Stamped, The Mouse that Roared, Spalicek, Echec au Roi (a
chess game)
Bliss: Checkmate (another chess game)
Holst: The Perfect Fool
Novak: Signorina Gioventu, Nikotina (both one acters)
The Fires of St Petersburg: first movement Shostakovich Symphony No 7
Offenbach (arr Rosenthal): Offenbachiana, Gaite Parisienne: the former
a far greater score (in my opinion) than the better known Parisienne
and a riot from start to finish. The production I played for a few
years ago featured a gendarmerie raid on a brothel with the
participants leaving arm in arm:):)
Handel: Love in Bath (arranged Beecham), The Gods-Go-A-Begging (Handel,
arr Beecham) - at the time using scores which probably had not been
heard for a century and a half in some cases. Brilliant orchestration
- apt, too - by Beecham. A wonderful achievement by the conductor, in
my opinion.
Tommasini (using mostly music by Paganini): Devil's Holiday.
Walton: The Wise Virgins, predominantly the music of Bach but also some
Glazunov and Tommasini "arrangements" of the great Scarlatti sonatas.
Tommasini, a dilettante composer who came from one of the five richest
families in Italy, a totally forgotten figure today, apart from these
"contributions."
Glazunov: The Seasons, a wonderful ballet with some of the finest
orchestration the composer managed. Also Scenes de Ballet Op 52, a
one-act divertissement.
Ibert: Divertissement, another mini French riot.
Minkus: Don Quixote, Pacquita in particular.
Prokofiev: Cinderella, a quite magnificent score; Romeo and Juliet,
another quite magnificent score; The Stone Flower; Scythian Suite -
surely one of the greatest composers for ballet?
John Addison: ballet Carte Blanche (premiered by Beecham) with one of
the toughest xylophone parts I have *ever* encountered: a 19 bar solo
prelude repeated as postlude. Very tough. Like the great Sadlers Wells
conductor Irving and Anthony Collins fled to America and died in
Vermont. A great film score composer, also.
Richard Arnell: The Great Detective, a balletic setting using the
Sherlock Holmes story with much use of solo violin for the "musings" of
Mr Holmes, as he was apparently won't to do. Lots of double stopping
for the concertmaster/leader! Great part for him/her, however.
Joplin and others: Elite Syncopations, a wonderful one acter Ashton
ballet using mostly Joplin and with only 13 players, directed from the
piano. A truly wonderful "kit" part for the sole percussionist and
with many great solo opportunities for the rest of the small band.
Pierne: Cydalise et le Chevre-Pied. A wonderful score to play although
the wind players, while admitting the wonderful score, occasionally
cursed same:):)
Thecymbal part in Sleeping Beauty is one of the greatest parts ever
written for the instrument just as it contains one of the most
spectacular parts written for the harp aside from solo pieces, of
course, or concerti. The cymbal part demands every dynamic the
instrument is capable of and is a wonderful and challenging part for
the player. An absolute thrill to play - not sure it isn't the best
cymbal part I have encountered see No 9 from the Prologue: Finale
andantino moderato-assai, allegro vivo, I believe it says. Is that
fast plate work? Yes it is. Begins deceptively with that great
clarinet solo.........and we are soon out of that andantino-moderato
assai nonsense.
Great ballet conductors I have encountered: Irving (at college,
regrettably not a complete thing), Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and Aleksandr
Kopilov (joint tie for the complete thing) but very close Andrew
Mogrelia, Barry Wordsworth (both UK based), Jiri Kout and Jan
Chalupecky (Czech Republic).
There will, of course, be others of which I do not know.
There will undoubtedly be ballets I have left out but those are the
pieces which immediately spring to mind from personal experience.
Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins

Thank you... you have brought to mind some of the music and ballets I had
forgotten.

dave
www.Shemakhan.com

[Richard Schultz]

In rec.music.classical.recordings ***@aol.com <***@aol.com> wrote:

: I have spent a lifetime playing ballet and here are some of my
: favourites, not in any particular order, but mostly because all contain
: either brilliant or interesting orchestration as well as providing
: wonderful and apt music for the

You should put some kind of warning ahead of time for those of us with
weak hearts that the last word of that sentence is *not* going to be
"percussionist."

: dancers.

: Ibert: Divertissement, another mini French riot.

While I love that piece, AFAIK, it's not a ballet, but incidental music
to the farce _The Italian Straw Hat_. (Or, as Ibert puts it in one
of the instructions to the trumpet, Oua oua oua.)

-----
Richard Schultz ***@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
It's a bird, it's a plane -- no, it's Mozart. . .

[Michael Haslam]

Post by Richard Schultz
: Ibert: Divertissement, another mini French riot.
While I love that piece, AFAIK, it's not a ballet, but incidental music
to the farce _The Italian Straw Hat_. (Or, as Ibert puts it in one
of the instructions to the trumpet, Oua oua oua.)

I knew instinctively that it was dance music when I danced to it aged
three.

[Richard Schultz]

In rec.music.classical.recordings Michael Haslam <***@macflat.com> wrote:
: Richard Schultz <***@mail.biu.ack.il> wrote:
:> In rec.music.classical ***@aol.com <***@aol.com> wrote:

:> : Ibert: Divertissement, another mini French riot.

:> While I love that piece, AFAIK, it's not a ballet, but incidental music
:> to the farce _The Italian Straw Hat_. (Or, as Ibert puts it in one
:> of the instructions to the trumpet, Oua oua oua.)

: I knew instinctively that it was dance music when I danced to it aged
: three.

I admit that I didn't fall in love with it until I was eight, but
unfortunately, what music you like to dance to does not determine the
original context of the music, which was incidental music to _The Italian
Straw Hat_.

-----
Richard Schultz ***@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and
if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

[a***@aol.com]

Post by Richard Schultz
While I love that piece, AFAIK, it's not a ballet, but incidental music
to the farce _The Italian Straw Hat_. (Or, as Ibert puts it in one
of the instructions to the trumpet, Oua oua oua.)
-----
Richard Schultz

Ibert's music is used for at least one ballet - Lucky Charms. I should
be surprised if there are not others.

Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins

[Peter T. Daniels]

Post by a***@aol.com

Post by Richard Schultz
While I love that piece, AFAIK, it's not a ballet, but incidental music
to the farce _The Italian Straw Hat_. (Or, as Ibert puts it in one
of the instructions to the trumpet, Oua oua oua.)
-----
Richard Schultz

Ibert's music is used for at least one ballet - Lucky Charms. I should
be surprised if there are not others.

It was clear that Alan's list was not of ballet music (i.e., music
written for a ballet), but music that has been used for a ballet (e.g.,
Jerome Robbins's *Goldberg Variations* or *Études*, Balanchine's
*Jewels* [to name, respectively, two works that I saw and one that had
beautiful posters, both in the early 1970s IIRC]).

[Matthew B. Tepper]

"***@aol.com" <***@aol.com> appears to have caused the
following letters to be typed in news:1141651323.205076.110550

Post by a***@aol.com

Post by Richard Schultz
While I love that piece, AFAIK, it's not a ballet, but incidental music
to the farce _The Italian Straw Hat_. (Or, as Ibert puts it in one
of the instructions to the trumpet, Oua oua oua.)

Ibert's music is used for at least one ballet - Lucky Charms. I should
be surprised if there are not others.

Are they magically delicious?

[Gerd Ranja]

Novak: Nikotina

Sponsored by?

Gerd Ranja

[unglued]

***@webtv.net wrote:
Since noone has mentioned it I'm rather partial to Bartok's "The Wooden
Prince".

[v***@webtv.net]

From: ***@spray.se (unglued)
***@webtv.net wrote:
Since noone has mentioned it I'm rather partial to Bartok's "The Wooden
Prince". i never wrote that, i dont even know anything off hand bella
has done.

[unglued]

Post by unglued
Since noone has mentioned it I'm rather partial to Bartok's "The Wooden
Prince". i never wrote that, i dont even know anything off hand bella
has done.

I can imagine.

[Don Rice]

The first Ballet I saw whose music I knew and loved, was Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker. The next was Aaron Copland's Billy The Kid. And Rodeo and
Appalchian Spring. Extraordinary ballets all. I love Stravinsky's music
intended for ballets as much as the music which has been "adapted"
including especially the violin concerto. I have seen several
performances of Petrushka, Firebird, The Rite (most tellingly in the
reconstructed choreography for the Joffrey Ballet), Les Noces (Robbins
and Nijinska's), Apollo, The Card Game, The Fairy's Kiss and others.
I also love Prokofiev's Romeo and Cinderella (and have attended
performances of both) as well as The Prodigal Son.
I have seen Mahler choreographed (very well in two ballets) Purcell and
Handel and Rameau and Bach and Bartok's 3d quartet (brilliantly by Mark
Morris). One of the most innovative and captivating theatrical
experiences I've had was a performance of Gogol's "The Overcoat" which
was done entirely in mime with music from various pieces of Shostakovich.
Jerome Robbins has choreographed some Chopin pieces that he called
"Other Dances" which remains one of the most memorable dance
performances I've ever attended (Baryshnikov and Kirkland.)
There are others but I mainly wanted to champion Copland whose music is
very dear to me and whose ballets were and are very moving and powerful.