Full Version: Matching ballets to musical scores
I would like to know if some of my favorite musical scores have been used to set ballets upon. Is there a clearinghouse sort of website that I can use to this end? I know of the major ones, of course, but there are some that I'm hoping may have been used that I'm just unaware of. Thank you.
i know of no such source database, but others more conversant with music might have some leads.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
QUOTE (rg @ Jul 28 2009, 04:33 PM) 
i know of no such source database, but others more conversant with music might have some leads.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
There is a Stravinsky database at Roehampton university in London which gives lists of works made to his music (at least up to 2002) but not to any other composer.
http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/stravinsky/
QUOTE (rg @ Jul 28 2009, 11:33 AM)
i know of no such source database, but others more conversant with music might have some leads.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
I fear this might lead to limited results--I always check CD covers, and listen to radio commentators, after listening to works that have been set as ballets. Even recordings/broadcasts of well-known examples, like Tchaikovsky's Serenade, often do not mention Balanchine's treatment.
Thanks, Lynette, for the link to the Stravinsky database. Who knew there had been that many Apollos and Agons. I was especially intrigued by Yvonne Rainer's Agon version at Dance Theater Workshop in 2006--which sounds like wonderful Judson nonsense.
A bit of whitelight's review from here on Ballet talk:
QUOTE
A re-vision of Balanchine's Agon, using his choreography with Rainer interventions. Three of the performers were modern dancers, Coates ex-New York City Ballet. The final Pas-de-quatre was danced to Henry Mancini's 'Pink Panther.'
A bit of whitelight's review from here on Ballet talk:
QUOTE
What's amazing is that shining through all the distortion, there's a whole lot of Agon still there. The pas de deux, in which ballerina Emily Coates is partnered by the three older, downtown, female choreographers, really is recognizably Balanchine the whole way. Her distortions were so witty! For example, instead of having the partner drop dramatically from a lunge to the floor, Coates just switches partners (one was lunging, the other takes her hand only after she is on her back). It's much less difficult technically, but the spirit of suspense and virtuosity is still there-- Perhaps after her legacy of being anti-virtuosity, Rainer is now making her commentary from the other side: even easy movement is virtuosity! Either way, it nudges the audience to consider "ordinary" movement and "dance" movement from a new perspective. And it's a tight little piece.
QUOTE (Lynette H @ Jul 29 2009, 06:30 AM)
QUOTE (rg @ Jul 28 2009, 04:33 PM)
i know of no such source database, but others more conversant with music might have some leads.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
putting the name of a certain piece of music in a search engine alongside the word 'ballet' might lead to some finds, plodding and piecemeal though such a method might be.
There is a Stravinsky database at Roehampton university in London which gives lists of works made to his music (at least up to 2002) but not to any other composer.
http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/stravinsky/
Thankfully this has been available for some years and I simply found it by checking through a whole lot of google results for Lists of Stravinsky ballets and up popped "Stravinsky the Global Dancer:
A Chronology of Choreography to the Music of Igor Stravinsky."
Thank you for the suggestions. I have been going through search engines to no avail. The Stravinsky database was a great find.
That said, does anyone know about any choreography set to the music of Dvorak and Grieg in the repertoire of companies in the Northeast US? I have always thought that many of their pieces would be well-suited for ballet.
That said, does anyone know about any choreography set to the music of Dvorak and Grieg in the repertoire of companies in the Northeast US? I have always thought that many of their pieces would be well-suited for ballet.
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