I have always wondered how choreographers “score” ballets. I know how the music is scored and can therefore be passed down through the ages, but how in the world are all of a ballet’s movements “scored” (i.e. captured on paper) so that the performance can be passed down from generation to generation? And which comes first, the choreography or the music?
Does the choreographer say to the composer, “This is what it’s going to look like. Write music to fit this.” Or does the composer write the music, and then say to the choreographer, “plan all of the movements to this.” I wondered about all of this this week because I decided to listen to the ballet music to "La Source Ou Naila" by Léo Delibes. The music from two of Delibes ballets, “Coppelia” and “Sylvia,” are on my “Top 100” list of classical music favorites (HERE), so I thought I would research other ballets by Delibes to listen to a score this week. It turns out that there was just one other, “La Source Ou Naila.” A complete list of compositions by Delibes is HERE. I LOVE the music from both “Coppelia” and “Sylvia” – there are sooo many memorable moments and melodies – so I wondered if Delibes hit another “home run,” so to speak, with “La Source Ou Naila” (which was actually his first ballet, written in 1866; “Coppelia” was composed in 1870 and “Sylvia” was written in 1876). I am happy to report that he did come close (to a “home run,” that is). Perhaps we’ll call this score a “triple.” : ) The music is very enjoyable – and of course, very characteristic of the ballet music of its time: strong and repetitive rhythms; expressive melodies; leitmotivs; lively musical patterns and meters; dramatic if not exaggerated cadences and dramatic finishes. “La Source Ou Naila” has it all. Still, the score does not include the number of memorable and classic melody lines that Delibes achieved in his other two ballets; therefore, it rated a “yellow light saber” on my scale rather than a green one. By the way, if you’re interested, I found this article, “Dancing on Paper” – HERE. – on “how do you write movement, in this case ballet.”
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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