# Who do you think was the greatest composer of Ballet?



## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Inexorably I'll be having to sift through all the people saying ''Greatest? I don't know, I only deal in 'favourites''' but the question stands:

Who was the greatest composer of ballet, in your estimation? I know Tchaikovsky did the most for the genre, but I'm seriously getting to like Ravel's Daphne et Chloe... Should be an interesting one...

- T


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Most classical music folks would likely go with Tchaikovsky, but I much prefer the real king of ballet - Igor Stravinsky.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

With the exception of Tchaikovsky and Delibes (and maybe Lalo's Namouna) most 19th century ballet music is intentionally bland (and snoozeworthy) so as not to upstage the dance. Thus, almost counterintuitively, the 20th c. is the Golden Age of Ballet -- Stravinsky, Bartok, Prokofiev, Copland, Shostakovich, Ravel . . . all wrote ballet scores that reward repeated listening. I couldn't choose, and wouldn't want to have to.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

My four favorite ballet scores are _The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, The Firebird,_ and _Romeo and Juliet._ I guess Tchaikovsky wins by the numbers, but when I'm watching Fonteyn and Nureyev dance the last-named he loses out to Prokofiev. I like the latter's _Cinderella_ a lot too. Still, there's _Swan Lake_...

As a piano accompanist for ballet over many years who improvises for classes, I've learned the most about how to make music dance balletically from Tchaikovsky, the greatest master of the genre in the classical ballet repertoire (a judgment I think Stravinsky and Balanchine would have agreed with). So I'll have to award him the prize.


----------



## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Tchaikovsky or Stravinsky. Couldn't choose between them.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Don't forget Delibes...


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

MarkW said:


> With the exception of Tchaikovsky and Delibes (and maybe Lalo's Namouna) most 19th century ballet music is intentionally bland (and snoozeworthy) so as not to upstage the dance. Thus, almost counterintuitively, the 20th c. is the Golden Age of Ballet -- Stravinsky, Bartok, Prokofiev, Copland, Shostakovich, Ravel . . . all wrote ballet scores that reward repeated listening. I couldn't choose, and wouldn't want to have to.


I pretty much agree with this but if forced to choose I would probably go with Tchaikovsky.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Greatest? I don't know, I only deal in 'favourites'.

Stravinsky it is.


----------



## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Tchaikovsky. 
Close second is a tie: Stravinsky and Prokofiev.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Adolph Adam: Giselle, my all time favourite.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

In an interview that John Lanchbery*, then music director of the American Ballet Theater, did during an intermission feature of an ABT TV broadcast of _Sleeping Beauty_, he compared Tchaikovsky's ballet music to that of most other 19th century ballet music composers. In particular he made some quite derogatory comments about Ludwig Minkus and his hack-work. The irony was that the following year, the ABT TV broadcast was of Minkus' _Don Quixote_. Needless to say, Lanchbery had to do a bit of amused, fast talking around his previous comments!

* For those not familiar with him, he had previously worked with the Royal Ballet and was responsible for the scores for Ashton's _La Fille Mal Gardee_ and T_ales of Beatrix Potter_ amongst others.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> In an interview that John Lanchbery*, then music director of the American Ballet Theater, did during an intermission feature of an ABT TV broadcast of _Sleeping Beauty_, he compared Tchaikovsky's ballet music to that of most other 19th century ballet music composers. In particular he made some quite derogatory comments about Ludwig Minkus and his hack-work. The irony was that the following year, the ABT TV broadcast was of Minkus' _Don Quixote_. Needless to say, Lanchbery had to do a bit of amused, fast talking around his previous comments!
> 
> * For those not familiar with him, he had previously worked with the Royal Ballet and was responsible for the scores for Ashton's _La Fille Mal Gardee_ and T_ales of Beatrix Potter_ amongst others.


Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) is known to all ballet dancers and balletomanes and apparently to almost no one else. He was quite a busy fellow writing original ballet scores as well as pieces for insertion into existing ballets. Whenever I hear a tuneful bit of 19th-century music that sounds danceable and it doesn't seem to be by any well-known composer, I think "Minkus." I've been right a number of times.


----------



## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

FLORENT SCHMITT (1870-1958) contributed significantly to ballet. _La Tragédie de Salomé_ (1907/10), _Antony & Cleopatra_ (1920), and _Oriane et le Prince d'Amour_ (1933) stand out in particular. While at work on _The Rite of Spring_, Stravinsky admitted that _Salomé_ "has given me greater joy than any work I have heard in a long time." Schmitt may not be the "greatest composer of ballet", but deserves at least a mention among the greats.


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Tallisman said:


> Inexorably I'll be having to sift through all the people saying ''Greatest? I don't know, I only deal in 'favourites''' but the question stands:
> 
> Who was the greatest composer of ballet, in your estimation? I know Tchaikovsky did the most for the genre, but I'm seriously getting to like Ravel's Daphne et Chloe... Should be an interesting one...
> 
> - T


Iannis Xenakis

........


----------



## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Edna Mode: "What, is this a question?"

Tchaikovsky!

Stravinsky's have some good moments, but none of them match Sleeping Beauty.


----------



## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

Pugg said:


> Adolph Adam: Giselle, my all time favourite.


indeed, should begin with that & his Le Corsaire, then comes Ludwig Minkus _Don Quixote_ & _La Bayadère_ - all beautiful music & dance.


----------



## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Mandryka said:


> Iannis Xenakis
> 
> ........


Yeah, Kraanerg and Antikhthon are awesome. They suffer from a similar thing to Bartok, Stravinsky, Ravel and composers alike though where the music is too extravagant IMO for ballet to do justice to the music. :tiphat:


----------



## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

lest we forget Cesare Pugni and his _La Esmeralda_ & _The Pharaoh's Daughter_ -


----------



## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet must be a contender for the greatest ballet score.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

My enthusiasm for ballet is attributable in great part to the work of George Balanchine. I was drawn in particular to his non-story ballets, which often used music not originally written for ballet. Balanchine's two favorite composers (for dance at least) were Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. When I evaluate the two, I am including all of the music by each of them that I have seen as the basis for dance, not just the music they wrote for that purpose. That leaves me with a difficult choice, but I guess I lean toward Tchaikovsky.


----------



## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Love most Tchaikovsky but love Prokofiev Romeo &Juliet!


----------



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*Glazunov's* Raymonda and The Seasons are two of the best around (maintaining and, in some ways, enhancing the tradition of the Russian ballet). *Khachaturian's* Gayane and Spartacus are worth mentioning.

And yes, *Delibes* and *Schmitt* should never be overlooked also.


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Stravinsky, Ravel,Tchaikovsky


----------



## T Son of Ander (Aug 25, 2015)

I guess it depends on if I'm only listening or seeing it staged. Only listening, I'd go with Stravinsky. Staged, I'd go with Tchaikovsky. As much as I love Stravinsky's ballets, I'm not sure I'd even want to see them choreographed. The there's Prokofiev. Hmmm... I have a thing for Russian ballet.


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Prokofieff and Khachaturian are good also...


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Tchaikovsky was indispensible, but so was Prokofiev.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Zhdanov said:


> indeed, should begin with that & his Le Corsaire, then comes Ludwig Minkus _Don Quixote_ & _La Bayadère_ - all beautiful music & dance.


The great Carlos Costa in his prime, stunning!!!!


----------

