Search - Maurice Ravel, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Anton Rubinstein :: A Night at the Ballet

Classic Ballet Hits

M. Lewis | 05/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the nineteenth century, ballet began to emerge as a major art form. It began in the court of the French monarch, Louis XIV, and survived to become part of the dance sequences of Paris Grand Opera. The Paris Opera relied on monied subcribers and put on ballets that catered to the lordly Jockey Club of gentlemen who kept mistresses among the ballerinas. The ballet was not an art in its own right and were danced only at the beginning of the third act. Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "Robert Le Diable" is a full-scale opera of dramatic proportions but contains in its third act "Dance of the Nuns". Later, the ballet became its own right, celebrated in such performances as "La Sylphide". The star ballerinas of the early 19th century were Marie Taglioni (who began en pointe footwork and the tutus) Lucile Grahn and Fanny Elsler. The ballet that changed it all was Adolphe Adam's Giselle. The cover to this cd album is Edgar Degas's "L'Etoile", some say it is a scene from Giselle. The arabesque the ballerina in white is making is a standard movement of ballet exercise. Degas himself loved the ballet and is considered the best artist to portray ballet of the 19th century.Eventually, Coppelia, La Bayadere, Swan Lake and the Russian ballets of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky would make a new standard of ballet. This compilation has highlights from some great ballets as well as danceable waltz-like rhythms. The ballet is and always will be a living art, fueled by imagination, conveyed through physical dynamics and orchestral music that touches the soul."