Appreciating Ballet's Music

Unique essays & resource guide with links to performances

Table of Contents

Preface

Prologue

  1. Medieval Music for Movement
  • Castles and Countryside
  • Hildegard's Processionals
  • The Play of Daniel
  • Written Estampies
  • Le Jeu de Robin et Marion
  1. Renaissance Celebrations
  • Music for Court and Rural Dancing
  • Le Ballet Comique de la Reine
  1. Baroque Opera-Ballets
  • Lully and the Sun King
  • Rameau's Indians
  1. Suite Yourself
  • Dance-Inspired Music for Listeners
  • Variations for English Virginals
  • Renaissance and Baroque Ballroom Dances
  • Bach's Suites
  • Handel, Foreign Favorite of Royals
  1. Orpheus through the Centuries
  • The Myth—Ancient
  • Monteverdi—Baroque
  • Gluck—Classical
  • A Satirical Side Trip
  • Stravinsky—Modern
  1. Peasants, Aristocrats, and Statues
  • La Fille mal gardée
  • Mozart's Little Nothings
  • Noverre's Vision
  • Beethoven's Prometheus
  1. Waltzing in Time
  • Mountainsides to Wine Gardens
  • Beer Gardens to Ballrooms
  • Ballrooms to Ballet Stages
  • Waltz Types
  1. Music for Women in White
  • La Sylphide
  • Les Sylphides
  • Giselle
  • Swan Lake
  • The Dying Swan
  1. Exotic Imports
  • Le Corsaire
  • La Bayadère
  • Polovtsian Dances
  • Schéhérazade
  • Excelsior
  1. Delibes
  • The Composer
  • Coppélia
  • Sylvia
  • The Paris Opera Ballet
  1. Sleeping Beauty
  • Tchaikovsky's Masterpiece
  • Petipa and His Composers
  • Diaghilev's Sleeping Princess
  • Nureyev and Classical Tradition
  1. Stravinsky's Russian Stories
  • Firebird
  • Petrouchka
  • Le Sacre du Printemps
  • Les Noces
  1. Diaghilev's Modish Moderns
  • The Impresario
  • Early Collaborators
  • Nijinsky and Debussy
  • Fokine and Ravel
  • A Spectrum of Other Dances
  1. Evocations of Spain
  • Boléro
  • Don Quixote
  • Three-Cornered Hat
  • A Spanish Composer in America
  1. Apollo to Agon
  • The Young God Grows Up
  • Balanchine's Procedures
  • Jeu de Cartes
  • Agon
  • The Stravinsky Festivals
  1. Romeos and Juliets
  • Shakespeare's Play
  • Gounod's Opera
  • Tchaikovsky's Overture
  • Lambert's Ballet
  • Prokofiev's Ballet
  • Bernstein's Broadway Show
  • Romeo Rocks
  1. For the Very Young
  • The Toy Box
  • Circus Elephants and Children
  • Fanfare
  • Tales of Beatrix Potter
  • Whipped Cream
  • Nutcrackers Everywhere
  • Dancin' Music for Children

After-words!

  • Relating Past and Present
  • Challenges for Contemporary Conductors
  • Instrumentalists in the Pits
  • The International Guild of Musicians in Dance
  • Women Collaborators in Modern Times
  • Exploring Professional Opportunities
  • Drawing from Widening Traditions
  • World Ballet Day
  • Ballet in Time of War

Chronology

Annotated Bibliography

Acknowledgements

About the Author