Ballet

What it means

The ballet is a stage work in which dance carries the action or stands for itself, accompanied by music specially written or chosen for the purpose. The spelling Ballet is the French, Ballett the German.

Music and dance stand in a special relationship in the ballet: the music must be danceable — that is, have clear metre, manageable sections and a reliable pulse — and it must at the same time express the moods and events of the action. It is related to the choreography, even when later it is often played independently in concert.

The ballet is to be distinguished from the opera with dance interludes, in which dance determines only individual scenes, and from dance as a genre in general.

In the notation

Ballet music consists of a succession of numbers assigned to particular dances or scenes. The score frequently contains indications about the action and the dancers. Characteristic are clearly articulated sections in multiples of four or eight bars, distinct tempo markings and recurring dance rhythms.

Musical use

The ballet arises in the courtly milieu of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in France, where it was at first part of larger festivities. In the nineteenth century it becomes an independent genre with evening-length story ballets. In the twentieth century composers and choreographers considerably expand the possibilities; the music becomes rhythmically more varied, and the relationship to movement is rethought.

Many ballet scores are today known above all as concert suites.

The history of ballet reaches from the court festivals of the Renaissance through the French ballet de cour to the great story ballets of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century important works by Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Ravel arose. Among the principal works of the nineteenth century are Adam’s Giselle as well as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

Performance practice

Keep the tempo reliable when there is dancing — dancers need a stable pulse, and changes of tempo must be agreed. Work out the dance rhythms clearly. In concert the shaping may be freer but should preserve the dance-like character.