# Top Three 20th Century Ballets, sans Stravinsky and Prokofiev



## Pyotr

What are your top three 20th century ballets? Besides the Stravinsky and Prokofiev’s ballets, since they would probably win hands down. I listed them in order of their premier dates and the composer. Since there were only 15 options, I know I left out a few including Jewels & Kraanerg , among others, sorry. 
Vote for three.


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## Manxfeeder

The question is "Your" top three, so it allows for personal perference.

Personally, I like Bartok's Mandarin for its music and that it portrays the modern city not as the pinnacle of civilization but as a degenerated jungle. 

Erik Satie's Relache is notable because it included the first frame-by-frame movie music. There had been music played with movies before, but this is specific to what's on the screen. It all started there.

Debussy's Jeux may not be the best ballet as far as staging, but it is some of his finest music.


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## QuietGuy

If I could've voted for Rite of Spring, I would've. It's THE ballet of the 20th century: it changed all the "rules" for composers coming after. Instead, I voted for Rodeo. (Don't ask me why; if I had it to do over again, I'd choose Jeux.)

Daphnis et Chloe & Appalachian Spring were my other two choices.


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## PetrB

_But your list is 'confused,'_ i.e. are we discussing the scores only as from the 20th century? because you've listed also: 
Square Dance - Antonio Vivaldi (1957) & A Midsummer Night's Dream- Felix Mendelssohn (1962)
Both then as ballets choreographed in the 20th century but using non-20th century music?!? _*Wassup?*_

From your list I would have voted the first three (in no particular order):

Daphnis et Chloé - Maurice Ravel 
Jeux - Claude Debussy(1913)
The Miraculous Mandarin - Béla Bartók (1926)

... and I would have happily voted for Satie if you had instead listed _Parade,_ and also added Copland's masterpiece, Appalachian Spring, original chamber version for 13 instruments. (Any of the above, I consider only the full-length pieces, and think the suites near to not worthwhile.)


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## Chronochromie

Debussy's _Khamma_ and _La boite à joujoux_ (partially orchestrated by Koechlin and Caplet) deserve a mention.


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## Fagotterdammerung

Bartok - The Wooden Prince
Schmitt - La Tragédie de Salomé 
Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe 

I love Jeux, but stagings of it are so often... awkward, somehow.


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## Pyotr

To satisfy the Stravinsky and Prokofiev aficionados , myself included, in addition to voting you may list their eight great works in the order of your personal preference. Here’s mine: 

1.Romeo and Juliet- Sergei Prokofiev (1940)
2.Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) - Igor Stravinsky (1913)
3.Cinderella - Sergei Prokofiev (1945 )
4.The Firebird - Igor Stravinsky (1911)
5.Petrushka - Igor Stravinsky (1911)
6.The Stone Flower- Sergei Prokofiev (1954)
7.Apollo - Igor Stravinsky (1928)
8.Agon - Igor Stravinsky(1957)


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## Fagotterdammerung

Les Noces
Le Sacre
Petrushka
Romeo and Juliet
Histoire du soldat

I'm not as big a fan of the others by either.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Jeux and Coroboree from the list, and it is a shame Vivaldi and Mendelssohn scores got on the list without Kraanerg which would have been my other choice.


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## starthrower

Bartok-Miraculous Mandarin
Debussy-Jeux
Hindemith-Nobilissima visione 
Szymanowski-Harnasie
Copland-Appalacian Spring
Schnittke-Peer Gynt
Zappa-Sinister Footwear


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## PetrB

Prokofiev's _Chout_ is quite fun.

Stravinsky ~ Apollo / Orpheus.

I think it at least a misdemeanor that Milhaud's _La création du monde_ is not anywhere a choice 

P.s. what is with the continued muddling, i.e. _"Jewels"_ is a Balanchine ballet in three parts using music of three different composers, one composer for each segment:
1.) Fauré
2.) Stravinsky
3.) Tschaikovsky


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## DiesIraeCX

My incredibly limited and uninformed listening experience aside (not having heard everything on the list), I voted for Debussy _Jeux_, Ravel and Bartok. Because I like 'em.


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## elgar's ghost

I voted for Ravel, Satie and de Falla. If I had to nom one not on the list AND exclude both Stravinsky and Prokofiev I'd probably choose Constant Lambert's Prize-fight or possibly Hindemith's The Four Temperaments (nigh-on a piano concerto which was used by Balanchine for the stage some years later).


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## Pyotr

The ballets in the 20th century list are those that premiered in the 20th century, regardless of when the music was composed. I was not trying to start another romantic vs. modern music fight on TC(we’ve had enough of those). I listed the composer instead of the choreographer because the choreography for virtually every ballet (that has stood the test of time) has changed from one generation to the next, whereas the music has stayed the same, for the most part. I didn’t want to get into arguments about who’s better Balanchine or Petipa, which is a whole other black hole.

And ok Square Dance is only 25 minutes, but the Rite of Spring is only 35. I don’t think anyone would protest if that were on the list. 

Very interesting results so far. I fully expected Daphnis et Chloé to be at the top of the list, but some of the others there are surprising. Thanks for playing.


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## PetrB

Fagotterdammerung said:


> Les Noces
> Le Sacre
> Petrushka
> Romeo and Juliet
> Histoire du soldat
> 
> I'm not as big a fan of the others by either.


_Histoire du soldat_ = seriously, not a ballet any more then _Renard_ is a ballet, i.e. it ain't


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## PetrB

Pyotr said:


> The ballets in the 20th century list are those that premiered in the 20th century, regardless of when the music was composed. I was not trying to start another romantic vs. modern music fight on TC(we've had enough of those). I listed the composer instead of the choreographer because the choreography for virtually every ballet (that has stood the test of time) has changed from one generation to the next, whereas the music has stayed the same, for the most part. I didn't want to get into arguments about who's better Balanchine or Petipa, which is a whole other black hole.
> 
> And ok Square Dance is only 25 minutes, but the Rite of Spring is only 35. I don't think anyone would protest if that were on the list.
> 
> Very interesting results so far. I fully expected Daphnis et Chloé to be at the top of the list, but some of the others there are surprising. Thanks for playing.


I beg your pardon. My intent was not to create any such opposition or contest, and I did not notice the category, which allows exactly any and all you listed, and under that category makes no distinction as to what era(s) the music is from, or whether the score is integrally by one composer or a cobbled together suite from several composers.

The slightly odd thing, though, is in this other category, people should be considering the staged ballet and its quality of 'libretto' and the dancing as the primary thing, which I think hardly anyone contributing has realized, _i.e. the majority of voted for favorites have been on the score alone, not the choreography and the overall stage presentation._ Intent or no, the thread has inadvertently been one primarily about music, to the near exclusion of actual dance.

To me, then, as a whole, _Petrushka_ is at least one of several choices for a _ne plus ultra_ of ideal marriages of libretto, score, choreography and staging.


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## Woodduck

Misundertood. I thought we were only leaving out the three early Stravinsky ballets.

Leaving out all of Stravinsky, I'll choose _Appalachian Spring_.


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## MoonlightSonata

Sorry, I voted for four. Daphnis and Chloe was first, but I couldn't separate Bolero, Spartacus and El Amor Brujo.


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## Avey

I don't necessarily look at any of these works as "ballets," that is, considering any visual element. Instead, I consider only the music at play here. Sorry if that was not the intention.

Nothing new though, with my opinion. I think Daphnis and Chloe contains some of the best orchestrated _music_ ever written, so I went with that. Followed by Jeux and Appalachian Spring. Though, Spartacus was close. Heard the work on the radio not too long ago, and was surprised I never heard of it before. Quite entertaining.


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## Becca

Wow, now that is a very restricted set of choices! Assuming that by Midsummer Night's Dream, you refer to the Balanchine ballet, then there is nothing by either Ashton or Macmillan on the list. If you mean all that makes a ballet, then I would choose Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee to the composite score put together by John Lanchbery from Ferdinand Herold. If you are meaning strictly from the quality of the music then the choice gets much wider...
Balanchine - Tzigane (Ravel)
Ashton - Month in the Country (Chopin)
Robbins - Dancing at a Gathering (Chopin)
usw...


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## Marsilius

I cannot believe that La fille mal gardée (1960) was not included on the list. It would have got my vote.


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## Albert7

No Agon so I ain't voting in this.


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## Sina

Having a very narrow experience in ballets, I just want to mention neglected Ravel's "Ma mère l'Oye" which is one of my favorite music works of all, especially especially the recorded performance with the late Claudio Abbado conducting London Symphony Orchestra, on 2002 three CDs Deutsche Grammophon release "Complete Orchestral Works".
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIAKcaJwa7xG7cjZQpJJrpV71s1RAsPsF


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## sharik

*Shostakovitch* - _The Golden Age_











wonder how the OP had overlooked this.


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## elgar's ghost

^
^

Yes, a really entertaining work whichever of the two plots is used. I also like DSCH's 'The Bolt' as well.


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## Arsakes

Am I the only one who thinks Mendelssohn and Vivaldi aren't from 20th century? 

I voted for Copland, Ravel and Khachaturian.


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## Marsilius

Of course Mendelssohn and Vivaldi aren't from the twentieth century. You weren't being asked about the composers, however, but about the ballets - each of which was created in the twentieth century. Mendelssohn's nineteenth century incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, for instance, only became the score to a ballet in the twentieth century.


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## Faustian

Daphnis et Chloé is probably my favorite even _including_ the Stravinsky ballets, if we're being honest.


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## Huilunsoittaja

You also excluded Shostakovich's ballets, unless THAT TOO was intentional. The Bolt is my favorite Shostakovich ballet hands down.

lol what a travesty to have Glazunov's ballet there, he totally counts as 19th century ballet tradition.


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## GreenMamba

Huilunsoittaja said:


> lol what a travesty to have Glazunov's ballet there, he totally counts as 19th century ballet tradition.


Having been written in 1900, it's arguably not just part of the 19th century tradition, but an actual 19th century composition.


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## Prodromides

Since there is no "other" category to select, I'm unable to vote for any of these 15 entries.

Regarding 20th-century ballet, my favorites come from Nordic or British composers.

!. *Sisyphos* (1954), by Karl-Birger Blomdahl










2. *The Column Fountain* (1929) (aka "WaterSpout"), by Väinö Raitio










3. *Job - A Masque For Dancing* (1936), by Ralph Vaughan Williams

I wish to make special mention of additional later-20th-century works such as Malcolm Arnold's 1963 *Electra* & Eero Hämeenniemi's *Loviisa* (1986) as well as the 1947 *Baldr* by Jón Leifs which is described as "A Choreographic Drama in Two Acts".


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## Huilunsoittaja

GreenMamba said:


> Having been written in 1900, it's arguably not just part of the 19th century tradition, but an actual 19th century composition.


Although such technicalities don't always come into play, in the case of the Seasons, it was actually composed in 1899 and premiered in February of 1900. But whatever


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## Beban

Erano Lhotka (1883-1962), student of Antonín Dvořák. 
The Devil in the Village (ballet in 8 scenes; 1934) 
Premiered in Zürich, Switzerland in 1935.

Village Wedding LINK 
2nd act, 6th scene excerpt LINK 
Introduction LINK 
Documentary in English excerpt LINK


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## Orfeo

*I would pick*


*Glazunov's* "The Seasons"
*Antill's* "Corroboree"
*Khachaturian's* "Spartacus"
*Ravel's* "Daphnis et Chloe"

*Worthy of Mention*


*Sir Arnold Bax's* The Truth about the Russian Dancers"
*Nosyrev's* "The Song of Triumphant Love"
*Nikolay Tcherepnin's* "Narcisse et Echo"
*Murad Kashlayev's* "The Maiden of the Mountains"
*Amirov's* "Arabian Nights"
*Gliere's* "The Red Poppy" (why aren't the Russians promoting this work more in particular?)
*Karayev's* "The Path of Thunder"
*Hugo Alfven's* "The Mountain King."
*Alberto Ginastera* "Panambi"


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## TxllxT

A real headbanger - mindblowing complete recording


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## jegreenwood

As a regular attendee of New York City Ballet for a decade, I would add a few more choices (not including about 10 by Stravinsky):

Fancy Free and the dance segments of West Side Story - Bernstein
The Four Temperments - Hindemith
Piano Concerto No. 2 - Shostakovich (choreographed by both MacMillan and Ratmansky)


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