Oh, my darlings, the 8th of February 2008. A day to mark in your little dance diaries, a day to twirl around your living room in a frothy, silk tutu. A day to celebrate the magnificent, the exquisite, the utterly glorious world of ballet music. Let's raise our teacups to the maestros, the composers who have crafted the sonic tapestries that elevate our dancers, that lift them like spun sugar, and spin our hearts into dizzying, enchanting chaos.
We start, naturally, with the undisputed monarch of ballet music, the genius whose name is synonymous with the very word "ballet." Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, you bewitching, masterful soul! "Swan Lake," "The Nutcracker," "Sleeping Beauty." Can we imagine a ballet without these? Absolutely not, darling. Tchaikovsky, you gifted us the most exquisite scores, each one a little slice of heaven in its own right. Every note whispers a story, every chord stirs a yearning, every crescendo swells with anticipation, then whispers secrets on the dying note.
Now, let's venture beyond the realm of Tchaikovsky, for the ballet world, like a perfectly turned pirouette, is a world of delightful contrasts.
French Flair & Elegance:- Adolphe Adam: "Giselle." Ah, Adam. The ballet score drips with Parisian elegance, all silken swaths of melody, with undercurrents of raw passion and melancholy. Just the music can leave you feeling breathless, with tears shimmering in the corners of your eyes.
- Camille Saint-Saëns: "The Carnival of the Animals." Playful, whimsical, this masterpiece evokes the most enchanting menagerie of characters: a flirtatious turtle, a lumbering elephant, a graceful swan. Perfect for letting loose, swirling around the dance floor, and embracing the playful joy of movement.
- Maurice Ravel: "Bolero." Ooh la la! Ravel. Your "Bolero," a crescendo of thrilling passion, makes me want to fling my arms wide, twirl until I am dizzy, and abandon myself to the primal dance of life!
- Igor Stravinsky: "The Firebird." Stravinsky! A pioneer of musical innovation, his "Firebird" is an explosion of colour and intensity, with rhythms that surge through the body, echoing the very spirit of a legendary bird.
- Dmitri Shostakovich: "The Bolt." Yes, yes, dear reader, Shostakovich isn't just for melancholy chamber quartets! His "Bolt" bursts with a vibrant, restless energy that demands movement, a ballet worthy of a powerful dance unlike any other!
- Leonard Bernstein: "Fancy Free." Bernstein's Broadway-esque charm shines in "Fancy Free." The music fizzes with laughter, exuberance, and the kind of youthful energy that could power a whole company.
- Maurice Jarre: "Doctor Zhivago." Ah, Jarre, you master of cinema. Your soaring, sweeping melodies elevate every gesture, every lift, to a place of pure, cinematic beauty.
I do believe my favourite ballet score must be, with no room for debate, Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." That whimsical "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" evokes such childlike magic, it has a power to enchant even the most jaded soul. My heart races when the orchestra begins the crescendo for the "Waltz of the Flowers." The dancers flitting around the stage seem to drift like fallen petals, swirling, fluttering in the magic of that music, carried on the ethereal music.
Oh, to speak of the tutus, my love! These frothy, bejewelled dreams. Can a perfect ballet really exist without them? Each tutu is a delicate halo of layers upon layers of tulle, creating a halo that makes a ballerina seem to float as though on a cloud. The ballerina twirling in the centre of the stage, a shimmering flower about to blossom. I can never forget my very first ballet; a small pink tulle creation that, with the grace of an ethereal nymph, flowed with each spin and twirl. My pink tutu, like a rosebud, soft, delicate, waiting to bloom. You have the pink tutu. You need the perfect, ballet leotard! Perhaps, a sapphire, with a hint of pearlescent embroidery. And you just have to match that to the most chicest of black dance shoes. No pink. Please.
We need to talk about a few of the greatest ballets of our time.
- "Swan Lake" - You'll witness Odette the swan princess in her pristine white tutu. The elegant moves in "Swan Lake" tell a tragic tale. Love and betrayal as Odette battles evil and her own dark, black swan half.
- "The Nutcracker" - An unbridled fairytale filled with dancing toys! A young Clara must conquer an evil Rat King, all while fantasising about the dashing prince in her Nutcracker, and what may have become her beloved Nutcracker.
- "Romeo and Juliet" - A fiery, desperate story told with breathtaking ballet. Shakespeare himself, in this glorious ballet interpretation, brought alive for generations. And just wait till the "Balcony scene" of these two star crossed lovers, ballet's equivalent of Romeo and Juliet's epic balcony moment.
Ballet music has a magic that can transcend language. A melody that lifts our spirits, that fills us with joy and hope, that leaves us with an echo of beauty in our hearts. It is a gift we should never take for granted. We can be captivated by its grace, entranced by its emotion. It takes us on a journey, spins us in circles of ethereal delight. So let us, this 8th of February, revel in its power, and let the dance of ballet music continue to delight and inspire our souls for generations to come.