Herbert Von Karajan & Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra ~ Famous Ballets

In the 19th century, the Paris Opera imposed that a ballet be included in all lyric dramas performed on its stage. There were no exceptions to this rule and even Verdi was obliged to accept it. Gounod, in turn, followed suit when Faust was produced in 1859. Though the action of the opera suffered from this cut, the ballet, taken out of context and followed by the famous Waltz, then expres­sed its full savor and charm - it was a small work of art within a major one.

La Gaite Parisienne is a medley of themes by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), written and orchestrated by Manuel Rosenthal for the cho­reographer Leonide Massine in 1938. Included are the major successes excerpted from the witty Franco-German composer's operettas -La Vie Parisienne, of course, and Orpheus in the Underworld, La Belle Helene, La P6richole, not to forget The Tales of Hoffman, in which Barcarole happily closes this cycle. Coppelia, which was the first performed on May 25, 1870, enthused Paris Opera season-ticket holders and constitutes, along with Sylvia by the same Leo Delibes, one of the most long-lasting successes in the repertory of ballet music.

When Tchaikovsky discovered Le'o Delibes' ballets  he expressed his admiration, going so far as to say that he liked them better than Wagner's operas! It is to be noted that the author of The Sleeping Beauty was referring specifically to French tradition for the choice of his subject (Perrault's Fairy Tales), whereas he turned to Russia for the intrigues of his operas. The Sleeping Beauty was performed in Saint-Petersburg, before the Tsar, on January 13, 1890.

Even though Chopin did not compose a single ballet, dance pervades his works for piano. These inspired the choreographer Michel Fokine to write a ballet. Les Sylphides was first performed by Diaghilev's Russian Ballets at the Theatre du ChStelet on June 6, 1909. We owe the orchestration in this album to the contemporary English composer Roy Douglas. Music lovers, beware - this ballet is not to be confused with its homonym La Sylphide (1832) by the French composer Jean Scheitzhoeffer. Bol&ro, by Maurice Ravel, is built on a dual theme of sixteen measures played repeatedly for sixteen minutes until the last modulation breaks the charm. The "variation" comes solely from awesome orchestration, to which all the instruments contribute, in a compelling crescendo  on an insistent rhythm beaten on the . side drum. The work was performed at the Paris Opera on November 22, 1928 by Ida Rubinstein's Ballets.

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