Suite from The Creatures of Prometheus | LA Phil Suite from The Creatures of Prometheus May 14, 2012 Composed: 1801 Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings First Los Angeles Philharmonic performance (Overture and Air de Ballet): August 8, 1931, Pierre Monteux conducting Beethoven the “Titan” and ballet? Surely an unlikely combination. Yet Beethoven is the one major composer who comes to mind who produced a large-scale dramatic ballet prior to the great Romantic era of ballet. And he, like Mozart and Haydn, then Schubert, was hardly unaccustomed to producing dance music for social occasions – minuets, contradances, ländler – at various time in his career. It was expected of him by the aristocracy and provided a bit of financial breathing room when times were tough.

(And Beethoven did write his brief Ritterballet – Knights’ Ballet – in 1791, prior to settling in Vienna.) The Italian-born and trained Salvatore Viganò (1769-1821) as well as being a dancer, was an acclaimed poet, musician, and actor. From surviving drawings of the Viganòs – Salvatore and his wife and stage partner, the Austrian ballerina Maria Medina – it can be seen that the French Revolution brought about a great simplification of ballet wear: no more the vast, movement-defying costumes for the women and heavy, buttoned shoes for both sexes. The post-Revolutionary era dictated light, flowing dresses for the women and soft, flexible footwear for both sexes – appropriate to the dance form that Viganò espoused, the coreodramma, with its elements of rhythmic intensity, pantomime serving a story line, and ensemble episodes. Beethoven met Viganò – a nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini – in 1800, and the Italian asked the composer to join him in creating The Creatures of Prometheus..

Viganò caught Beethoven at the right time: the composer not only needed money, but was anxious to write a substantial stage work (the first draft for his only opera, Fidelio, was four years in the offing). Furthermore, the subject of the ballet, the Greek demigod Prometheus, who brought enlightenment – in the form of fire – to earth from Mount Olympus was associated in Beethoven’s mind with Napoleon, the composer’s idol until the famous episode regarding the “Eroica” Symphony in 1804 when the supposed egalitarian Napoleon had made himself emperor and Beethoven violently expunged the symphony’s dedication to him. While the original Prometheus scenario has been lost, a publication of the time preserves what seems to be close to the “heroic and allegorical ballet” that was presented at Vienna Hofburg Theater in 1801: “The Greek philosophers describe Prometheus as a lofty soul who found the people of his time in ignorance, refined them by means of science and the arts, and gave them manners, customs, and morals.

As a result of that conception, two statues that have been brought to life are introduced into the ballet, and these through the power of harmony, are made receptive to all the passions of human existence. Prometheus leads them to Parnassus, in order that Apollo... may enlighten them. Apollo gives them as teachers Amphion, Orion, and Orpheus for music; Melpomene to teach them tragedy; Terpsichore and Pan the Shepherds’ dances; and Bacchus the heroic dance.” Beethoven envisioned a scenario with a more prominent element of Prometheus’ rebellious nature and his punishment for disobeying the Gods, but this Viganò seemingly vetoed as being too raw for the aristocratic audience. He might as well have let Beethoven have his way, since the Viennese critics savaged The Creatures of Prometheus, condemning it as “too demanding of the intellect” (ballet was supposed to be a diversion), with the dancing overwhelmed by Beethoven’s music.

One can imagine the latter being true, but lacking any visual elements the ear convinces us that Beethoven’s grand score constitutes a bridge from the Second Symphony of 1802 to the subsequent “Eroica.” Prometheus consists of 18 numbers – some of considerable scope – including the popular overture, its only component performed out of context. Also included in one tableau is a refrain with a four-note bass that was a great favorite of the composer’s, who used it again in the finale of the “Eroica,” in a set of piano variations (the “Eroica” Variations, Op. 35), and as one of 12 Contredanses, WoO 14. Herbert Glass, after serving on the administrative staffs of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Opera, was for 25 years a critic / columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has also written for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and for periodicals in Europe and the United States. He recently completed his 15th season as English-language editor / annotator for the Salzburg Festival. The Creatures of Prometheus, overture and ballet music, Op.

43 (1801) Бетховен Piano arrangement: Hess 90 Even as a young man, Beethoven had written music for a ballet, the "Ritterballet" ("Knight's Ballet") WoO 1 for the Bonn carnival in 1791. Ten years later his situation had obviously completely changed: he was no longer the young protege who composed music for a count's pleasure and then was not even mentioned in the concert programme. When the ballet master at the Vienna Hoftheater, Salvatore Vigano, came to Beethoven in 1800, asking him to compose the music for his new ballet "Gli uomini di Prometeo" ("The men of Prometheus"), the composer was already famous. The premiere took place on 28 March 1801 at the Vienna Hofburgtheater. The ballet was performed a total of 29 times in the season 1801/1802 - a great success for a production of the time. Sadly both Vigano's choreography and the original libretto have gone missing; apart from Beethoven's music nothing has remained of the rest of the ballet.

Details about the occasion for the composition as well as about its commission are not known. Already in the mid 1790s Beethoven had written Piano Variations on a "Menuett a la Vigano" (WoO 68) and thus taken sides in a heated dispute between the ballet masters Vigano and his rival Muzzarelli in Vienna. In so doing he might have attracted Vigano's attention or even his sympathies. The young, rising and extraordinarily talented composer was certainly also an excellent musical choice on the part of the choreographer, who was simply looking for the best music for his new ballet. Usually Vigano put together music by different composers for his ballets. "Prometheus" is the only ballet which he intentionally commissioned one single composer to write. As often occurred when Beethoven dealt with stage works the subjects (here Prometheus) mirrored his own view of the world. In Greek mythology Prometheus is a titan, who goes against the gods' wishes and brings mankind fire. He is bitterly punished for this. An individual's stand against an existing ruling system for the good of mankind is surely one of the myths which reflected Beethoven's enlightened ideals.

Beethoven's ballet score Die Geschopfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus) was created in collaboration with choreographer Salvatore Vigano. Commissioned in 1800, the ballet was the composer's first major work for the stage. Premiered in Vienna's Burgtheater on March 28, 1801, Prometheus was initially a great success, and within a few years it had been peformed dozens of times. Still, it was criticized by a contemporary as "fragmentary" and "too learned for a ballet," and the score, save for the overture, has since been generally neglected as little more than an historical curiosity. The work's opus number is somewhat problematic. In June 1801, Artaria published Beethoven's piano arrangement of the score, dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky, as Opus 24. In the same year, the firm of Mollo intended to publish a pair of violin sonatas as Opus 23; likely because of a printing error, the second of these, now familiar as the "Spring" Sonata, was issued separately as Opus 24, necessitating a change in opus number for Prometheus.

Three years later, Hoffmeister published the full score of the overture only as Opus 43, lending the false impression that the work was composed some years later than it actually was. Aside from a few interesting aspects of its orchestration, the most important part of the ballet, musically speaking, is the 16th and final number. This section shares its key, main theme, and bass line with the seventh of the Twelve Contredanses, WoO 14, composed at intervals between 1791 and 1802. It is certain that the material of this particular dance dates from about the time of the ballet, though scholars disagree on which work was the first to take shape; considering the composer's working method, it is entirely possible that the two developed simultaneously. In any event, this workhorse of a theme came to even greater prominence through its use in Beethoven's 15 Variations and Fugue for piano, Op. 35, and in the finale of his epochal Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, "Eroica," Op. 55.

(All Music Guide) Suite from The Creatures of Prometheus | Hollywood Bowl Suite from The Creatures of Prometheus May 14, 2012 Composed: 1801 Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings First Los Angeles Philharmonic performance (Overture and Air de Ballet): August 8, 1931, Pierre Monteux conducting Beethoven the “Titan” and ballet? Surely an unlikely combination. Yet Beethoven is the one major composer who comes to mind who produced a large-scale dramatic ballet prior to the great Romantic era of ballet. And he, like Mozart and Haydn, then Schubert, was hardly unaccustomed to producing dance music for social occasions – minuets, contradances, ländler – at various time in his career. It was expected of him by the aristocracy and provided a bit of financial breathing room when times were tough.

(And Beethoven did write his brief Ritterballet – Knights’ Ballet – in 1791, prior to settling in Vienna.) The Italian-born and trained Salvatore Viganò (1769-1821) as well as being a dancer, was an acclaimed poet, musician, and actor. From surviving drawings of the Viganòs – Salvatore and his wife and stage partner, the Austrian ballerina Maria Medina – it can be seen that the French Revolution brought about a great simplification of ballet wear: no more the vast, movement-defying costumes for the women and heavy, buttoned shoes for both sexes. The post-Revolutionary era dictated light, flowing dresses for the women and soft, flexible footwear for both sexes – appropriate to the dance form that Viganò espoused, the coreodramma, with its elements of rhythmic intensity, pantomime serving a story line, and ensemble episodes. Beethoven met Viganò – a nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini – in 1800, and the Italian asked the composer to join him in creating The Creatures of Prometheus..

Viganò caught Beethoven at the right time: the composer not only needed money, but was anxious to write a substantial stage work (the first draft for his only opera, Fidelio, was four years in the offing). Furthermore, the subject of the ballet, the Greek demigod Prometheus, who brought enlightenment – in the form of fire – to earth from Mount Olympus was associated in Beethoven’s mind with Napoleon, the composer’s idol until the famous episode regarding the “Eroica” Symphony in 1804 when the supposed egalitarian Napoleon had made himself emperor and Beethoven violently expunged the symphony’s dedication to him. While the original Prometheus scenario has been lost, a publication of the time preserves what seems to be close to the “heroic and allegorical ballet” that was presented at Vienna Hofburg Theater in 1801: “The Greek philosophers describe Prometheus as a lofty soul who found the people of his time in ignorance, refined them by means of science and the arts, and gave them manners, customs, and morals.

As a result of that conception, two statues that have been brought to life are introduced into the ballet, and these through the power of harmony, are made receptive to all the passions of human existence. Prometheus leads them to Parnassus, in order that Apollo... may enlighten them. Apollo gives them as teachers Amphion, Orion, and Orpheus for music; Melpomene to teach them tragedy; Terpsichore and Pan the Shepherds’ dances; and Bacchus the heroic dance.” Beethoven envisioned a scenario with a more prominent element of Prometheus’ rebellious nature and his punishment for disobeying the Gods, but this Viganò seemingly vetoed as being too raw for the aristocratic audience. He might as well have let Beethoven have his way, since the Viennese critics savaged The Creatures of Prometheus, condemning it as “too demanding of the intellect” (ballet was supposed to be a diversion), with the dancing overwhelmed by Beethoven’s music.

One can imagine the latter being true, but lacking any visual elements the ear convinces us that Beethoven’s grand score constitutes a bridge from the Second Symphony of 1802 to the subsequent “Eroica.” Prometheus consists of 18 numbers – some of considerable scope – including the popular overture, its only component performed out of context. Also included in one tableau is a refrain with a four-note bass that was a great favorite of the composer’s, who used it again in the finale of the “Eroica,” in a set of piano variations (the “Eroica” Variations, Op. 35), and as one of 12 Contredanses, WoO 14. Herbert Glass, after serving on the administrative staffs of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Opera, was for 25 years a critic / columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has also written for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and for periodicals in Europe and the United States. He recently completed his 15th season as English-language editor / annotator for the Salzburg Festival.

San Francisco Symphony - BEETHOVEN: Overture to The Creatures Of Prometheus, Opus 43 San Francisco Symphony Beethoven: Overture to The Creatures Of Prometheus, Opus 43 Overture to the Ballet, The Creatures Of Prometheus, Opus 43 Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, then an independent electorate, probably on December 16, 1770 (his baptismal certificate is dated the 17th), and he died in Vienna on March 26, 1827. He composed The Creatures of Prometheus, his first theater work, in the winter of 1800-01. The theme of the finale had already appeared earlier in 1800 in the seventh of his Twelve Contradances, WoO 14. The Prometheus ballet was first staged as Gliuomini di Prometeo (The Men of Prometheus) at the Vienna Burgtheater on March 28, 1801. Die Geschpfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus) is the title inscribed on the manuscript, and that is how the ballet is ordinarily known.

The Overture was first heard in America on March 19, 1822, at a Musical Fund Society concert in Philadelphia under the direction of Charles Hupfeld. Pierre Monteux conducted the first San Francisco Symphony performances of the Overture in March 1938. Although the work is a favorite on SFS summer concerts, the most recent subscription performances were in June 1995, led by Christoph Eschenbach as part of the SFS Beethoven and Mozart Festival. The score calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. Performance time: about five minutes. Thanks to the pioneering work of the great French dancer, choreographer, and dance theorist Jean-Georges Noverre, who was active in Vienna in the 1760s and 1770s, ballet was not only vastly popular in the Austrian capital in Beethoven's time but even stood in high intellectual repute.

The most important figure in the Viennese dance world after Noverre was Salvatore Viganò, a dancer and choreographer from Naples (and, by the way, nephew to the composer Luigi Boccherini). He had first come to Vienna in 1793 and worked there again between 1799 and 1803. His wife and partner, Maria Medina, was admired for her "natural, joyous, and unconstrained dancing," her expressive features, and not least for her daring costumes, but a still more powerful impression was made by the Viganò ballets themselves. Heinrich Joseph von Collin, for whose tragedy Coriolan Beethoven would write a powerful overture in 1807, wrote about Viganò that "of course there was something startling in seeing a form of drama with which thitherto there had been associated only leaps, contortions, constrained positions, and complicated dances which left behind them no feeling of unity, suddenly succeeded by dramatic action, depth of feeling, and plastic beauty of representation." He speaks of these works as "opening up a new realm of beauty" and remarks that their "very subject-matter . . .

was well calculated to inspire admiration and respect." Prometheus, which was just such a work, was a success and was given twenty-three times in 1801 and 1802. Viganò revived it for La Scala, Milan, in 1813, but retained only part of Beethoven's score, substituting music from various hands, including his own. The original scenario is lost, but we can get a good idea from a note in the program which describes Prometheus as "an exalted spirit, who found the humans of his time in a condition of ignorance, refined them through science and art, and brought to them civilized manners, customs, and morals. . . . Two statues have been brought to life and introduced into this ballet, and these, through the power of harmony, are made sensible to the passions of human life. Prometheus leads them to Parnassus so that Apollo, god of the arts, might enlighten them. Apollo gives them Amphion, Arion, and Orpheus to instruct them in music; Melpomene to teach them tragedy; Thalia, comedy; Terpsichore and Pan, the dance of shepherds; and Bacchus, the heroic dance. . .

." Clearly, it was a project calculated to engage Beethoven's idealistic fervor as well as one that held out the hope of professional recognition and success. The complete Prometheus comprises about an hour of music. Best known today is the Overture, which starts magnificently on a chord on which no piece ought to start, especially not in 1801, and which then moves quickly into a swirling perpetuum mobile. Beethoven found his model in Mozart's overture to Così fan tutte, but he is at least as much himself as he is in debt. —Michael Steinberg Michael Steinberg, the San Francisco Symphony’s program annotator from 1979 to 1999 and a contributing writer to our program book until his death in 2009, was one of the nation’s pre-eminent writers on music. We are privileged to continue publishing his program notes. His books are available at the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall.

More About the Music Recordings: Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (DG Galleria) | Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (RCA Silver Seal) | Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Helios) | Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota Orchestra (Vox Box) Reading: Beethoven, by Maynard Solomon (Schirmer) | Beethoven, by William Kinderman (University of California Press) | Beethoven: The Music and the Life, by Lewis Lockwood (Norton) | Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, in its most recent revision by Elliott Forbes (Princeton University Press) | The Beethoven Compendium, edited by Barry Cooper (Thames and Hudson) | Beethoven and His World: A Biographical Dictionary, by Peter Clive (Oxford) DVD: Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony explore the composer and his world in Beethoven and the Eroica, part of our Keeping Score series (SFS Media). Also available at keepingscore.org. (June 2015) BEETHOVEN: Creatures of Prometheus (The), Op.

43 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43 Beethoven’s time was one of revolutions and wars, terror and reform, poverty and extravagance and in many ways his music reflects the turbulence of the age in which he lived. Austria was at war with Ottoman Turkey, the French were in dispute with Austria and England with France. The fall of the Bastille in 1789 was a sign of the end of the old order, extinguished for ever, to be replaced by “sophisters, economists and calculators”. The period brought wide cultural changes, changes in political philosophy and in society, in literature, in painting and in music with the towering genius of Beethoven, hailed by Schumann, in the next generation, as a giant, and by Liszt as the pillar of smoke that led to the Promised Land. Vienna, where Beethoven had settled in 1792, was a dazzling city. Under Queen Maria Theresia, to whom the Habsburg Empire had fallen in 1740, the political capital was a rich cultural centre.

Here there were as many as three new ballet productions a month, with divertissement and dance as a prescribed element in fashionable opera. Chief among Vienna’s great ballet-masters were Franz Hilverding, who had studied in Paris, a pioneer of the so-called “ballet d’action”, the ballet with a story. His pupil Gaspero Angiolini, choreographer of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, continued the tradition, with the French choreographer Noverre, who was in Vienna for a time from 1767. It was in the 1790s that the innovative Italian dancer and choreographer Salvatore Viganò, a nephew of the composer Boccherini, came to Vienna. His contemporaries saw in him the creator of the so-called “coreodramma”, with its strong element of rhythmic mime and primary attention to the music.

It was for him that Beethoven wrote in 1800 and 1801 his second ballet score, the music for the two-act “mythologicalallegorical” Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus), dedicated to Princess Maria Christiane von Lichnowsky, wife of his benefactor, Prince Karl Lichnowsky. The original scenario of the ballet is lost, making it difficult to establish the precise context of many of the sixteen numbers of the score and leading to different treatments of the music by various choreographers since, including, in the twentieth century, Serge Lifar, Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton. Nevertheless a broad outline of the story can be gathered from a surviving theatre-bill for the first performance at the Hofburgtheater on 28th March 1801: “The basis of this allegorical ballet is the fable of Prometheus. The Greek philosophers, by whom he was known, allude to him thus—they depict him as a lofty soul who drove ignorance from the people of his time, and gave them manners, customs, and morals.

As the result of this conception, two statues that have been brought to life are introduced… and these, through the power of harmony, are made sensitive to the passions of human life. Prometheus leads them to Mount Parnassus in order that Apollo, the deity of the arts, may instruct them. Apollo gives them as teachers Amphion, Arion and Orpheus to instruct them in music; Melpomene to teach them tragedy; Thalia, comedy; Terpsichore and Pan, the latest Shepherd’s Dance which the latter has invented, and Bacchus, the Heroic Dance of which he was the originator”. The punishment of Prometheus, who had stolen fire from Olympus to bring to life his “creations” and was, at the command of Zeus, the King of the Gods, chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where his liver was daily eaten by vultures, is omitted. It is not clear to what extent the high hopes raised by the commission were realised.

The ballet, in the years 1801 and 1802, had some 23 performance and Beethoven’s piano transcription of the work was published in June 1801 by Artaria, with the orchestral parts of the Overture following in 1804 from the Leipzig publishers Hoffmeister & Kühnel. In his own letters, however, he expresses dissatisfaction with the work of the choreographer. The critic of the Zeitung für die elegante Welt (The Newspaper for the Elegant World), writing on the nineteenth of May 1801, had serious reservations: “The music [like the choreography] did not completely come up to expectations, notwithstanding some uncommon virtues. Whether Herr van Beethoven can achieve what audiences such as those [in Vienna] demand with so uniform—not to say monotonous—a subject, I leave undecided. There can scarcely be any doubt, however, that his writing here is too learned for a ballet, and pays too little regard to the dancing. Everything is on too large a scale for a divertissement which is what the ballet ought to be, and in the absence of suitable situations it was bound to remain fragmentary rather than becoming a whole…”.

In Beethoven’s sketch-book for the period nearly a hundred pages of sketches for the ballet survive, excluding the Overture [1] and No. 11 [13]. Hastily scribbled reminders and stage directions, mostly in German or Italian, supplement what little we know of the story and its possible action, as does Carl Ritorni’s early nineteenth century account of Viganò’s ballets. The C major Overture [1] has a slow introduction followed by a brilliant sonata-form Allegro molto con brio, drawing on material from the last scene of the ballet. This sets the scene: “Pursued by the mighty wrath of Heaven (giving occasion for a loud and vigorous musical prelude) Prometheus enters, running through the forest towards his two clay figures, to whose hearts he hastily applies the celestial fire” (Ritorni). The Introduction [2] follows, La tempesta (The Storm), marked Allegro non troppo, linking the Overture to the first act and a prototype, as Sir George Grove pointed out more than a century ago, of the storms of the Pastoral Symphony.

The first act opens in C major with Poco adagio / Allegro con brio [3], as the clay figures falteringly acquire life and motion, becoming man and woman. There follows a D minor Adagio — Allegro con brio [4] to which Prometheus, exhausted on a rock, recovers, to find that his figures have neither reason nor feeling. They fall to the ground under a tree. In an Allegro vivace [5], less animated and more hostile, they move about clumsily, trying to escape Prometheus, who finally catches them and drags them away. In the second act the scene changes to central Greece and Parnassus, sacred of old to Apollo, the sun-god. He is surrounded by the nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Memory, inspirers of poetry, music and the arts, the three Graces and Bacchus, god of wine, together with his revellers. Three characters, a bold anachronism, in Ritorni’s opinion, pay court, Orpheus, Amphion and Arion, half divine, the legendary musicians of the ancient world.

In a hushed series of stately stepping unisons, Maestoso – Andante, in D major, [6] Prometheus presents his animate but spiritless figures to Apollo. In the following B-flat major Adagio [7], a rapturously woven tapestry of texture and timbre, feeling is instilled in the figures, through solos, tremolos and Sublime aria, accompanied pizzicato. Euterpe, one of the Muses, begins to play (flute), accompanied by Amphion on his lyre (harp, for the only time in Beethoven’s orchestral writing, and plucked strings). Arion (bassoon) and Orpheus (clarinet) join in, then Apollo (cello) with a high-ascending 6/8 dance-song, Andante quasi Allegretto, to which the figures start to respond. To a G major Un poco Adagio – Allegro, [8] they are awakened to human consciousness and begin to gambol skittishly, welcoming their creator. In a G major Grave [9] Terpsichore and the Graces take the stage, followed by Bacchus and his retinue.

The tight, double-dotted rhythms add a portentous French dimension, with a contrast of forceful assertions and quiet rejoinders. The ensuing D major Allegro con brio [10] is a war-like Bacchic dance, the alla marcia refrains interrupted by three episodes, the first suggesting the fashionable “Turkish” mode. This is rounded off by a rousing Presto. Seizing weapons, the figures become obsessed with the quest for military glory. An E-flat major / C minor Adagio – Allegro molto, [11] in the sketches “la muse tragique’, marks the intervention of Melpomene. In a dramatically intense movement, she shows, through mime, that mortal life ends in death. Horrified they recoil. Then, stabbing Prometheus with a dagger, she punishes him for exposing his “children” to human destiny. In Beethoven’s note-book, across the final three major triads are the French words “Promethe mort, les enfants pleurent” (Prometheus dead, the children weep). There follows a richly scored “Pastorale”, a C major Allegro, [12] with separate cello and double bass parts and a joyful wind choir.

This is Pan’s Shepherd’s Dance, a parody of the familiar Italian pastoral style of the eighteenth century. Prometheus is brought to life again and Thalia holds masks before the still weeping figures. The following G major Andante [13] is transitional, its narrative unknown. This is succeeded by a C major Maestoso – Andante – Allegro, Solo di Gioja’, [14] in the guise of a march, interrupted by a reflective interlude for flute, bassoon and violin. The narrative is unknown, but the Italian dancer and composer Gaetano Gioia was in Vienna for the 1800–1801 season, when his own ballets were staged there. He may have danced the part of the male “child” of Prometheus. There is no narrative element for the following D major Allegro [15], a sectional number with a coda in German country-dance style, perhaps intended for the corps de ballet. There now comes an F major Andante – Allegro [16], described as “Solo della Cassentini”, delicately scored with basset horn, Beethoven’s only use of the instrument, and oboe.

The bewitching Marie Cassentini, of bared shoulders and dark ringlets, was prima ballerina at the Vienna Court Opera, taking the rôle of the female creature of Prometheus. The first night of the ballet was given in her benefit. Once again the narrative relevance of this is unknown, as is that of the following B-flat major Andantino – Adagio – Allegro [17], “Solo di Viganò”, presumably for Viganò in the rôle of Prometheus. It is suggested that the function of these solos and a possible ensemble were as display set-pieces, lacking, therefore, any direct narrative relevance. In E-flat major, the proud key of the new age, the Finale [18], marked Allegretto – Allegro molto – Presto, provides a rondo for the concluding tableau, its refrain and four-note bass to be used in the Eroica Symphony in 1803 and in the so-called Eroica Variations, as well as in the seventh of the Twelve Contretänze WoO 14.

Symphonically exultant, driven onwards by energising rhythms and off-beat accents, the closing paragraphs bring the curtain down in a blaze of orchestral sound, clarinets, horns and attacking kettle-drums, characteristic of Beethoven at the turn of the century, “like Lucifer, a son of the morning, glorying in his power”. Ateş Orga Ateş Orga is author of Beethoven: His Life and Times, rev. ed. Omnibus Press/Music Sales London & New York 1983 Beethoven's history: 1770 - 1802 | Beethoven - Classic FM Beethoven's history: 1770 - 1802 By John Suchet Part 1 of our Beethoven timeline follows the story of the composer's birth to his Symphony no. 2. 1770: Beethoven is born 17 December: Beethoven is baptised in the church of St Remigius, Bonn. The date of his birth is not recorded, but since it was customary for baptisms to take place within 24 hours of birth, it is likely he was born on 16 December.

1773 24 December: Beethoven's beloved grandfather, Kapellmeister Ludwig van Beethoven , dies. 1774 8 April: Beethoven's brother Caspar Carl baptised. 1776 2 October: Beethoven's brother Nikolaus Johann baptised. 1778: Beethoven's first public appearance 26 March: Beethoven's first known public performance, in Cologne. His father advertised his age as six years, although he was in fact seven, probably to draw favourable comparisons with the child prodigy Mozart . He played 'various clavier concertos and trios'. 1780 Beethoven begins lessons with Gottlob Neefe, who writes of him in Cramer's Magazin der Musik: "He plays the clavier very skilfully and with power [and] reads at sight very well... This youthful genius is deserving of help to enable him to travel. He would surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were he to continue as he has begun." 1783 First compositions Beethoven composes his first piece, aged 12.

Nine Variations on a March by Dressler includes clever harmonies, delightful melodic phrasing and hints at his later stormy musical character. Listen below: 14 October: Beethoven publishes the three Kurfürsten Piano Sonatas, dedicated to the Elector of Cologne and Münster, Maximilian Friedrich. 1784 Beethoven appointed assistant court organist alongside Neefe. 1787 Meets Mozart April: Beethoven achieves his long-held ambition to travel to Vienna to meet Mozart, almost certainly thanks to the intervention of his patron Count Waldstein with the new Elector, Maximilian Franz. Barely two weeks after arriving, and having impressed Mozart so much he agrees to take him on as a pupil, Beethoven has to return to Bonn where his mother is dying of consumption. By the time he returns to Vienna nearly five years later, Mozart is dead. 17 July: Beethoven's mother, Maria Magdalena , dies. 1789 Beethoven's father, Johann van Beethoven , a tenor singer, is forced to retire from the electoral choir, after his increased drinking ruined his voice.

On one occasion, after becoming drunk in public, he was arrested - only to be released after Ludwig had pleaded with the police. Because of his alcoholism, he was ordered by the Elector to be banished to a village away from Bonn, and half his salary paid to Ludwig. In fact he remained in Bonn, and for appearance's sake he received his full retirement salary, making half of it over to his son privately. 1790 Cantata on the Death of Joseph II; the Cantata on the Elevation of Leopold II Beethoven composes the Cantata on the Death of Joseph II, and the Cantata on the Elevation of Leopold II. The musicians of the electoral orchestra refuse to perform the first, claiming it is unplayable. December: Haydn passes through Bonn on his way to London. He meets Beethoven, who shows him his scores of the two Cantatas. Haydn, impressed, encourages him to come to Vienna where, he promises, he will take him on as a pupil. 1791 The Ritterballet Beethoven composes the Ritterballet, allowing his patron Count Waldstein to claim it as his own composition.

Beethoven goes with the electoral orchestra on a trip to Mergentheim. On the boat, which sails up the Rhine and the Main, he is appointed kitchen scullion. 5 December Mozart dies. 1792 Beethoven leaves for Vienna November: Beethoven, one month short of his 22nd birthday, leaves Bonn for Vienna to study with Haydn. He has been given six months leave of absence by the elector. In fact he stays in Vienna for the rest of his life - never to return to his home town. 18 December: Beethoven's father dies. 1793 Beethoven begins lessons with Haydn. The city's most influential musical patrons - particularly Prince Lichnowsky - take Beethoven under their wing, and put him forward to take on the city's piano virtuosos in improvisation contests. One after the other he defeats them and quickly establishes his reputation as the finest piano virtuoso in Vienna. 1794 Piano Trios op. 1. Caspar Carl moves to Vienna. Beethoven begins composing Piano Trios op. 1. 1795 Piano Sonatas op.

2 29 March: Beethoven's first public performance in Vienna, where he premieres either his First or Second Piano Concerto . Beethoven composes Piano Sonatas op. 2. Beethoven performs the Piano Trios before Haydn, who is critical of no. 3, advising against publication. Beethoven is furious, but he heals the rift with his teacher when he dedicates the Piano Sonatas to him. Nikolaus Johann moves to Vienna. 1796 Cello Sonatas op. 5 Beethoven travels with Prince Lichnowsky to Prague, where he gives a concert. He goes on to Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. In Berlin he composes the Cello Sonatas op. 5. 1797 The beginning of Beethoven's deafness? Beethoven gives the first performance of Quintet op. 16 at Jahn's restaurant in the Himmelpfortgasse. In the summer of this year he falls seriously ill. It is possibly typhus and could mark the beginning of his deafness. 1798 Trios op. 9; the Trio op. 11; the three Violin Sonatas op.

12 In an extraordinary burst of creativity at the start of the year, Beethoven completes the Piano Sonatas op. 10, composes the three string Trios op. 9, the Trio op. 11, and the three Violin Sonatas op. 12. Later in the year he begins work on the Septet op. 20 and composes the huge Pathétique Sonata op. 13. 1799 First String Quartets op. 18 Beethoven meets the double bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti, performing a cello (!) sonata with him. Beethoven composes his first String Quartets op. 18, and begins work on Symphony no. 1. 1800: Premiere of the First Symphony Beethoven defeats the celebrated Prussian piano virtuoso Daniel Steibelt in an improvisation contest at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz, and is never again asked to take part in an improvisation contest. His position as Vienna's greatest piano virtuoso is secure and remains unchallenged for the rest of his life. 2 April: Beethoven's first benefit concert, at the Burgtheater in Vienna.

He premieres the Septet and the First Symphony, and performs one of his two completed Piano Concertos. He also improvises on the piano. At the concert he meets Archduke Rudolph, accompanied by his mother, Empress Theresia. Beethoven begins work on Symphony no. 2. Beethoven composes music for The Creatures of Prometheus. Beethoven's great friend from his childhood in Bonn, Stephan von Breuning, moves to Vienna. 29 June: In a long letter to his old friend Dr Franz Wegeler in Bonn, Beethoven mentions his deafness for the first time. '...for the last three years my hearing has become worse...' 26 July: Elector Max Franz dies at Hetzendorf, Vienna. Beethoven subsequently changes the dedication of his First Symphony to Baron van Swieten. October: Ferdinand Ries, son of Franz Ries the leader of the electoral orchestra in Bonn, arrives in Vienna. Beethoven welcomes him and takes him on as secretary. Beethoven falls in love with Countess Giulietta Guicciardi , and dedicates the Sonata quasi una Fantasia to her. Many years later, after his death, it acquires the nickname Moonlight Sonata .

1802: Symphony no. 2 Baron Braun refuses Beethoven his anticipated benefit concert. April: Beethoven moves to Heiligenstadt north of Vienna for the summer to relieve his hearing. In Heiligenstadt he composes the Prometheus (Eroica) Variations op. 35 and the three Piano Sonatas op. 31. He completes Symphony no. 2. 6 October: Beethoven writes the Heiligenstadt Testament, his last will and testament, publicly acknowledging his deafness for the first time ... "Oh, all you people who think or say that I am hostile to you, or that I am stubborn, or that I hate mankind, you do not realise the wrong that you do me...I am deaf ..." ballet | dance | Britannica.com Ballet International Ballet Competitions Ballet, theatrical dance in which a formal academic dance technique—the danse d’école—is combined with other artistic elements such as music , costume, and stage scenery. The academic technique itself is also known as ballet. This article surveys the history of ballet. Moscow Grand Ballet performing Swan Lake in 2004.

Ali Jarekji—Reuters/Corbis Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz History through 1945 The emergence of ballet in the courts of Europe Ballet traces its origins to the Italian Renaissance, when it was developed as a court entertainment. During the 15th and 16th centuries the dance technique became formalized. The epicentre of the art moved to France following the marriage of the Italian-born aristocrat Catherine de Médicis to Henry II of France. A court musician and choreographer named Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx devised Ballet comique de la reine (1581; “The Queen’s Comic Ballet”), which inaugurated a long tradition of court ballets in France that reached its peak under Louis XIV in the mid-17th century. As a court entertainment, the works were performed by courtiers; a few professional dancers were occasionally participants, but they were usually cast in grotesque or comic roles. The subjects of these works, in which dance formed only a part alongside declamation and song, ranged widely; some were comic and others had a more serious, even political, intent.

Louis XIII and his son Louis XIV frequently performed in them; the younger Louis was in time regarded as the epitome of the noble style of dancing as it developed at the French court. dance (performing arts): Ballet Eventually, developments at the French court pushed the arts aside, and the court ballet disappeared. But Louis XIV had established two academies where ballet was launched into another phase of its development: the Académie Royale de Danse (1661) and the Académie Royale de Musique (1669). The Académie Royale de Danse was formed to preserve the classical school of the noble dance. It was to last until the 1780s. By then its purpose essentially had been abrogated by the music academy, the predecessor of the dance school of the Paris Opéra . Ballet as an adjunct to opera Similar Topics quadrille The Académie Royale de Musique was to become incalculably significant in the development of ballet. The academy was created to present opera, which was then understood to include a dance element; indeed, for fully a century ballet was a virtually obligatory component of the various forms of French opera.

From the beginning, the dancers of the Opéra (as the Académie was commonly known) were professional, coming under the authority of the ballet master. A succession of distinguished ballet masters (notably Pierre Beauchamp , Louis Pécour, and Gaétan Vestris ) ensured the prestige of French ballet, and the quality of the Opéra’s dancers became renowned throughout Europe. The growing appeal of ballet to an increasingly broad public in Paris was reflected in the success of opéra-ballets , of which the most celebrated were André Campra ’s L’Europe galante (1697; “Gallant Europe”) and Jean-Philippe Rameau ’s Les Indes galantes (1735; “The Gallant Indies”). These works combined singing , dancing, and orchestral music into numbers that were unified by a loose theme. In the early years the most accomplished dancers were male, and it was not until 1681 that the first principal female dancer, Mlle La Fontaine , appeared. Gradually she and her successors became nearly as well-known and respected as male dancers such as Michel Blondy and Jean Balon .

From the 1720s, however, with the appearance of Marie Sallé and Marie-Anne Camargo , the women began to vie with the men in technique and artistry. The retirement of Sallé and Camargo in turn coincided with the debut of one of the most celebrated dancers of all time, Gaétan Vestris , who became regarded in his prime as the epitome of the French noble style; he played an important part in establishing ballet as an independent theatrical form. The establishment of the ballet d’action Britannica Stories Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales Ballet remained subservient to vocal music at the Paris Opéra until the 1770s, but elsewhere—and even in Paris—enlightened ballet masters had been experimenting with a genre in which dance was allied with mime to form a new type of theatrical work known as the ballet d’action. Its origin can be traced back at least to 1717, when in London John Weaver produced The Loves of Mars and Venus , which he claimed echoed the pantomimes of ancient Rome .

This was the forerunner of several pioneering attempts to weave dance and mime into a narrative work, notably by Franz Hilverding and Gasparo Angiolini in Vienna and Jean-Baptiste de Hesse and Antoine Pitrot in Paris (on other stages than the Opéra). It fell to the French choreographer and writer Jean-Georges Noverre to establish the genre of the ballet d’action in the public consciousness . Ballet: Fact or Fiction? At the Opéra-Comique in Paris Noverre produced in 1754 a remarkable ballet on a Chinese theme that earned him an engagement in London. There Noverre was befriended by the actor David Garrick , who became an important influence in his artistic development. In 1760, at the court of Württemberg (now in Germany), he produced a series of major works in which he realized his personal vision of the ballet d’action. The most celebrated of these was Médée et Jason, in which Gaétan Vestris played Jason. Noverre’s fame spread throughout Europe.

After Württemberg he was employed in Vienna, where Empress Maria Theresa recommended him to her daughter, Queen Marie-Antoinette of France, for the post of ballet master at the Paris Opéra. Noverre’s brief engagement at the Opéra was a turning point of the greatest significance. Gaétan Vestris, a dominant figure there, espoused the cause of the ballet d’action. Although the other ballet masters, Jean Dauberval and Maximilien Gardel, forced Noverre out of the organization, they were no less committed to the new genre he had introduced. Noverre’s fame also derived from his writings, notably Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets (1760), one of the classics of dance literature, in which he drew attention to the shortcomings of the ballet of his time and set down his ideas for reforming his art and explained his vision of the ballet d’action. The age of Gardel Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the Paris Opéra remained closely linked to the court. The revolution put an end to such support.

The turn of the 19th century was a time of confusion for the arts, during which ballet gained greatly in popularity and prestige at the expense of its sister art, opera. Ballet’s success was largely a consequence of the personal effort of the ballet master Pierre Gardel (Maximilien’s brother), who dominated French ballet from 1787 to 1827. Gardel was not only an experienced administrator but also a choreographer, esteemed throughout Europe. In Paris he staged many ballets from a wide variety of genres , from Classical legend (Psyché, 1790) to comedy (La Dansomanie, 1800) and contemporary fiction (Paul et Virginie, 1806). He was most ably supported by Louis Milon, who himself produced a number of masterpieces, including the tear-jerking Nina, ou la folle par amour (1813; “Nina, or Mad by Love”) and the boisterous Le Carnaval de Venise, ou la constance à l’épreuve (1816; “The Carnival of Venice, or The Test of Constancy”).

Under Gardel’s rule the dominance of the Paris ballet was recognized throughout Europe for its ballet productions, for dancers such as Marie Gardel, Emilia Bigottini, and Louis Duport , and for superior teachers such as Jean-Franƈois Coulon. Meanwhile, ballet had also taken root in other European cities, most notably in Vienna and in Italian cities such as Milan and Naples. The outstanding Italian choreographer of this era was Salvatore Viganò , who endeavoured to mold dance and silent drama to a greater extent than any other choreographer of his time. His most celebrated work was his definitive version of the Prometheus legend, Prometeo (1813), which reused much of Ludwig van Beethoven ’s ballet music for the Vienna State Opera (Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, 1801; The Creatures of Prometheus). Among other celebrated choreographers working in Italy at this time were Gaetano Gioja and the French-born Louis Henry. Ballet as an aspect of Romanticism Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The world changed fast after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.

The base of the Parisian theatregoing public was broadening with the rise of a wealthy middle class, while in matters of artistic taste the younger generation rejected the neoclassical preferences of their elders and surrendered to the growing vogue for Romanticism. Ballet itself would be radically changed. After the fall of the Bourbon monarchy in 1830, the Opéra was privatized, and its new management opened the door to Romanticism with Giacomo Meyerbeer ’s opera Robert le Diable (1831; “Robert the Devil”) and Filippo Taglioni ’s ballet, La Sylphide (1832; “The Sylph”). The latter, which became the prototype for many other ballets with a spirit as heroine, established the fame of Filippo Taglioni’s daughter, Marie Taglioni , the most eminent ballerina of her generation. Trained by Coulon and polished by her father, Taglioni had a style that set her apart from her contemporaries; she projected a spiritual quality that was said to touch the soul, and her virtuosity was subjugated to the creation of mood.

The years from about 1830 to 1850 were a golden age for ballet. Taglioni was followed by other great stars, who like her enjoyed international renown, including the Austrian Fanny Elssler . Elssler was famed for character dances such as the Spanish cachucha, and she had a dramatic flair that was evident in Joseph Mazilier’s La Gipsy (1839) and Jules Perrot ’s La Esmeralda (1844). After Elssler came Carlotta Grisi , who created the title role in Giselle (1841), a ballet that remains, somewhat modified, in the 21st-century repertoire . The age was dominated by the ballerina at the expense of the male dancer. Women’s technique became increasingly virtuosic, largely as a result of the development of pointe work (i.e., dancing on the toes). In the last third of the 19th century, ballet in Paris was in artistic decline; the only work of merit to survive was Arthur Saint-Léon ’s Coppélia (1870).

One centre in which the male dancer held his own was Copenhagen, where the Paris-trained August Bournonville directed the ballet for many years. He produced many ballets, including his own version of La Sylphide (1836) and Napoli (1842); both of these have remained in the repertoire into the 21st century, and both convey an authentic flavour of the Romantic style. Trending Topics Open Door policy London was another important centre of ballet at this time, but there ballet was largely an imported form, dominated by visiting stars from the Continent and by French choreographers. Outstanding among these was Jules Perrot , who produced a string of masterworks, including La Esmeralda (1844) and the all-star Pas de Quatre (1845). However, the great flowering of ballet in London was to be of short duration, and some 80 years were to pass before the first stirrings of a truly English ballet tradition were felt. The Imperial Russian Ballet As the 19th century drew to a close, the centre of ballet activity moved to St. Petersburg , where the art was supported by the bottomless resources at the disposal of the tsar.

Nevertheless, ballet remained an exotic import from western Europe, and the only production of note with a Russian theme was Saint-Léon’s The Little Humpbacked Horse (1864). Saint-Léon was one of a line of French ballet masters who worked in Russia ; he was preceded by Perrot and succeeded by Marius Petipa . Petipa dominated the Russian ballet from 1870 to 1903, virtually replenishing the repertoire with ballets of his own. Several of these have survived to form the basic ballet classics into the 21st century: not only the three ballets to scores by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky —The Sleeping Beauty (1890), The Nutcracker (1892), and Swan Lake (1895; Petipa’s assistant, Lev Ivanov , set the lakeside acts)—but also an earlier work, La Bayadère (1877; “The [Hindu] Temple Dancer”), and a later one, Raymonda (1898). Petipa also ensured the survival of Giselle.

The Imperial Ballet paid great attention to the training of its dancers, and an essentially Russian style emerged in the company. The Italian style taught by Enrico Cecchetti and the French style taught by Christian Johansson together formed the foundation for the Russian school that was to become dominant in 20th-century ballet. The era of the Ballets Russes From Russia came the impulse that reanimated ballet in western Europe. For the ballet season in 1909 the impresario Serge Diaghilev brought to Paris a company, called the Ballets Russes, that was made up of prominent dancers from the Imperial Ballet. The effect on the artistic world was shattering. Ballet, which in western Europe had sunk low in public estimation, became recognized as a major theatre art, one in which dance, music, and stage design contributed to an unprecedented and impressive overall effect. The dancing was of the highest quality. The greatest sensation was created by Vaslav Nijinsky , a male dancer of a standard not seen within living memory, and the ballerinas Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina also made a lasting impression.

In its early seasons the Ballets Russes had to reassemble each year to visit western Europe, since the company’s dancers were still under contract in Russia; but in 1911 Diaghilev broke with the Imperial Theatres, and thereafter the company was based in Monte Carlo. Its appeal extended beyond the ordinary theatregoing public to embrace the artistic intelligentsia, so that ballet began to lose the somewhat louche reputation it had acquired in the 19th century. A main reason for this change in status was the participation of major artists—artists such as Alexandre Benois and Leon Bakst , who designed the scenery, and leading composers, notably Igor Stravinsky , who produced specially commissioned musical scores. In the company’s early seasons the principal choreographer was Michel Fokine , who staged a number of ballets that became classics, notably Les Sylphides (1909), The Firebird (1910), and Petrouchka (1911). Eventually Diaghilev’s encouragement of Nijinsky as a budding choreographer soured his relationship with Fokine. As a choreographer Nijinsky proved an iconoclast , seeking nonclassical forms of movement.

Although his choreographic output was limited, it included two ballets that achieved notoriety on account of their sexual inferences: L’Après-midi d’un faune (1912; The Afternoon of a Faun) and Le Sacre du printemps (1913; The Rite of Spring). After World War I Diaghilev made common cause with some of the modern art movements in Paris, and the prestige of his Ballets Russes was unabated until his death in 1929. The Russian Revolution of 1917 inevitably weakened the company’s link with its homeland. Nonetheless, the Russian element within the company remained dominant, although the Russians were joined by dancers of other nationalities, including Anton Dolin (English), Ninette de Valois (Irish), and Alicia Markova (English).

Among the choreographers who worked for Diaghilev during this period were Léonide Massine , Bronislava Nijinska , George Balanchine , and Serge Lifar ; the most lasting ballets were Massine’s La Boutique fantasque (“The Fanciful Shop”) and Le Tricorne (1919; “The Three-Cornered Hat”), Nijinska’s Les Biches (1924; “The Does”), and Balanchine’s Apollon Musagète (1928). Independently of the Ballets Russes, Anna Pavlova traveled the world with her own company of supporting dancers. She brought her art to millions who had never seen ballet before, and she became in the process a veritable icon. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes did not survive his death, and two years passed before the impresarios Colonel W. de Basil and René Blum formed a company, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo , in 1931 to carry on the tradition.

The story of the Ballets Russes companies of the 1930s is too complicated for a brief treatment; most important was the development in that decade of a younger and more widely based public for ballet than the intelligentsia whom Diaghilev had courted. The new company soon produced its first stars: the three “baby ballerinas” (ages 12 to 14 at their debuts), Tamara Toumanova, Tatiana Riabouchinska , and Irina Baronova . They and other dancers in the company were pupils of various distinguished Russian teachers (notably Mathilde Kschessinska , Olga Preobrajenska , and Lubov Egorova) who had settled in Paris and went on to establish Russian-style training in the West. The Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo continued the Diaghilev tradition by commissioning leading artists and composers to collaborate in the ballets.

Although Balanchine produced both Cotillon and La Concurrence in its first season (1932), Massine became the dominant choreographer, covering new ground with his symphonic ballets Les Présages (1933), Choreartium (1933), and Symphonie fantastique (1936). The company’s U.S. tours, which began in 1933, became regular events; from these visits can be traced the later vogue for the ballet in North America . Blum broke with de Basil in 1936 to form his own short-lived company with Fokine as ballet master, while de Basil directed his own company under various names until his death. There was great rivalry between the two companies, which in 1938 appeared simultaneously in London. Both survived World War II , but their former relevance was by then passing. The de Basil company, as it had become known, disbanded in 1948, and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in 1962.

Russian ballet in the Soviet era The Revolution of 1917 exerted a profound influence on Russian ballet, which remained virtually untouched by the reforms that Diaghilev had brought to ballet in western Europe. Notwithstanding its imperial and aristocratic associations, ballet in the Soviet Union survived and flourished, although it took a different course than ballet in western Europe. While the one-act ballet that Diaghilev had introduced became the norm in the West, Soviet ballet remained wedded to the multiact form. After a brief flirtation with modernism, led by Kasyan Goleizovsky in the 1920s, Soviet ballet reverted to traditional practice, marked by strong plots, a natural acting style that eschewed the formal mime of Petipa’s day, and the use of folk dance as a counterweight to the classical dance vocabulary. During the years between World Wars I and II, St. Petersburg (known from 1914 to 1924 as Petrograd and from 1924 to 1991 as Leningrad) retained its ascendancy, but gradually Moscow, which had become the nation’s capital, emerged as a rival.

In a landmark of the era, at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre the Soviet-themed ballet The Red Poppy (1927) was produced. This work, which is about Russian sailors who champion downtrodden Chinese dockworkers, was unashamedly propagandist and by current Western standards choreographically unadventurous. The ballet school in Leningrad attained unprecedented prestige under one of the most inspirational teachers of all time, Agrippina Vaganova . She formed a new generation of dancers, headed by a ballerina of inimitable artistry, Galina Ulanova . At the same time, an awareness of the historical traditions of Russian ballet was returning, and some of the classic ballets of the previous century were reintroduced into the repertoire. A new group of Soviet choreographers, working almost exclusively within the framework of the full-length ballet, matured, and, following the triumphant visit of the Bolshoi Ballet to London in 1956, ballet from the Soviet Union began to emerge from its isolation.

In performances of the 1950s the full-evening work was the norm, typified by two ballets to scores that were greatly admired in western Europe: Leonide Lavrovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (1940), to music by Sergey Prokofiev , and Leonide Jacobson’s Spartacus (1956), to music by Aram Khachaturian . As a result of the interchange that followed the Bolshoi’s tour, Russian and western European ballet were to be influenced by each other. Western choreographers, such as Frederick Ashton and John Cranko , began to work to a larger scale, while Russian choreographers began to experiment with the single-act form that Diaghilev had favoured. The growth of national ballet companies in Europe and North America Diaghilev’s enduring legacy was the resurgence of ballet that followed his death. The major companies that subsequently flourished in France , the United Kingdom, and North America were the direct beneficiaries of his vision. The ballet of the Paris Opéra was in deep decline when the Ballets Russes first came to the city.

In the 1920s the French company’s prestige began to rise, and it was a major force again in European ballet after 1931, when Serge Lifar was appointed ballet master. During the Lifar regime, which lasted until 1958, the company’s fortunes—and respect for French ballet—rose dramatically. As a choreographer Lifar created a vast repertoire of ballets, inviting the collaboration of contemporary musicians and artists much as Diaghilev would have done; as a dancer unsurpassed for his allure, Lifar provided the example for others to follow. After his retirement the company continued to flourish under the direction of another iconoclastic figure, Rudolf Nureyev , who produced a spectacular range of classics from the Petipa period. Those ballets showcased the company’s outstanding technical and artistic strength. In Britain an even more dramatic development took place. Diaghilev’s London seasons had rekindled interest in ballet, and the 1930s saw the modest beginnings of a national tradition with the formation of the Vic-Wells Ballet and the Ballet Rambert .

In 1946 the Vic-Wells, by then called the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, was chosen to become the established ballet company at the Royal Opera House in London; in 1956, granted royal patronage, it became the Royal Ballet . Founded by Ninette de Valois , the company possessed a choreographer of genius, Frederick Ashton . His muse was Margot Fonteyn , a ballerina who achieved international renown. Ashton and his successor, Kenneth MacMillan , between them created the foundation of a rich and varied repertoire. The development of ballet in the United States has been no less dramatic. Although the country has no national ballet, its leading companies stand comparison with the principal national companies of Europe. The most important of these are the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre , founded respectively in 1934 (as the American Ballet Company; the name was changed in 1948) and 1939 (as Ballet Theatre; the name was changed in 1957).

The significance of the former lies in its being the repository of the vast repertoire that George Balanchine —in his younger days one of Diaghilev’s choreographers—created over a lifetime of incredible creativity; he died in 1983. Many other countries, notably Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark , and Cuba, to name only a few, established ballet companies of note in the 20th century, and countless smaller companies and groups became active all over the world, playing their part in the extraordinary flowering of ballet after World War II.

Question: Which great composer's only ballets were 'The Creatures of Prometheus" and “Ritterballet”?
Answer: Beethoven