Favourite piece of music from a ballet

[Rosa]

*Swan Lake: The swan theme, wherever it appeared; introduction; Act I waltz; pas de trois coda; andante sostenuto; Odette's entrance; entrance of the swans; Odette's variation; Russian dance; dance of the swans Act IV; Drigo's Act IV, Valse Bluette, Un poco di Chopin; scene finale.

*Sleeping Beauty: Prologue; Aurora's entrance; vision scene; Act II entr'acte.

*Nutcracker: Music during the guests' departure and the magic begins; Waltz of the Snowflakes; Mother Ginger; Act II grand PDD.

*Raymonda: Introduction; Raymonda's entrance; Act I dream PDD; Act I waltz coda; Act II pas de six; Bacchanale; Act III entr'acte; Apothéose.

*Cinderella: Introduction; gavotte; Season Fairies; Prince's entrance; Cinderella arrives at the ball; Cinderella's variation; PDD; waltz-coda; midnight; all Act III.

*Jewels: both PDDs in Emeralds; the music in Rubies before the big PDD; finale of Diamonds.

*Giselle: Dance of the Wilis; Act II finale.

*Les Sylphides: 1st Mazurka; PDD; grand waltz.

*Symphony in C: 2nd and 4th movements.

[phenby]

> 'Appalachian Spring' of Copland, which is not a ballet, but is called one anyway. <

Not only is it an original ballet score but quite possibly one of the most successful of the 20th century. It remained in the repertoir of the Martha Graham company for many seasons.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I know this will be a shocker for all the serious knowledgeable music lovers-(which this board has in good amounts)-, but two of the tunes that I find myself listening to in my CD player while driving over and over AND OVER right after they're over are 1-Minkus' Entrance of the Shades from Bayadere and 2-the Sugar Plum Fairy Adagio from The Nutcracker.

[nijinsky1979]

Hmmm ... lemme open iTunes ... OK!

Don't get me wrong: I love all of Tchaikovsky's ballet scores (and other selections of his music used in ballets) and so many others, but here are some selections (sorry, I know there are more than five) that have not been mentioned many times:

Delibes: Thème slave varié, from "Coppélia," act 1 — aka "the friends' dance"

My favorite part is the last variation, when, in some versions, Swanhilda performs two strings of brisés, and later, a bunch of sprightly rétirés.

Delibes: Scene, in act 2, right after Chanson à boire, when Coppélius brings out Swanhilda in disguise and is fooled into thinking Coppélia is coming to life. The theme, probably meant to represent Coppélia (or naiveté itself), was introduced at the beginning of the prélude with horns, but here is played by strings, a couple of octaves higher. Passages like these make me think that "Coppélia" carries more dramatic weight than many people believe.

Delibes: Danse de la bacchante, from "Sylvia," act 2

So exotic and sensual. What a marvelous solo Ashton choreographed for Fonteyn!

Tcherepnin: Allegro ma non troppo, from "Paquita"

Probably inserted sometime after the original Minkus score was completed and performed in the 1850s. Tchaikovsky might have been inspired by this — consciously or not — and wrote the "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" based on it. Does anyone agree? Maybe there's some historical evidence to that effect.

Stravinsky: In Petrouchka's Booth, from "Petrouchka"

Really sad, when Petrouchka explains to the audience that the Charlatan abuses him.

Stravinsky: Supplication of the Firebird, from "Firebird"

So much emotion, so early in the ballet.

Borodin: Polovstian Dances, from "Prince Igor"

I'll never forget the moment, sitting in the Kennedy Center in 2005, when I realized that's the music we often used in class for ronds de jambe.

Gottschalk: Grande Tarantelle for Piano and Orchestra, used in Balanchine's "Tarantella"

I think I saw that ballet when I was 5 or 6 at a summer arts festival in my hometown. Somehow I got a tape of the music and played it endlessly, it seems. I almost completely forgot about it, but in college, I was reminded of how much I loved it when I heard it on the radio in someone's office. Serendipitous moments like that almost make me a believer!

Speaking of all things spiritual ... to my knowledge, ballet scores by Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky are considered to be the greatest. In my opinion, the reason for that is obvious: The music engenders a profoundly, spiritually moving experience within the balletgoer. (Many times, this music is performed in concert halls, with no dance performance included.) Still, scores by "lesser" ballet composers (including some composers who never knew their music would be used for ballet) can be just as spiritually moving — for me, anyway — whether or not the music is coupled with dancing.

That said, I've avoided any full-length "Don Quixote," perhaps stupidly, because the score, in its entirety, seems unpalatable for two hours of listening. I think it would exhaust me in a bad way — not in a satisfying way, like "The Sleeping Beauty" or "Swan Lake" do. I think someone said basically the same thing about Glazunov's "Raymonda." Still, I think I should give "Don Q" and "Raymonda" a chance one of these seasons.