Biographical sketches of sixty-six under-appreciated yet significant contributors to the body of western ballet music
Edited by Bruce R. Schueneman and William E. Studwell
While most music and dance lovers are familiar with the famous scores of Tchaikovsky, Delibes, and Stravinsky, many other lesser-known composers have also written for the ballet. Several of these composers wrote almost exclusively for the ballet and all enriched the world of dance. Minor Ballet Composers presents biographical sketches of 66 composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and describes the ballets they helped create.
Among the more familiar composers recognised in this publication are Cesare Pugni (who contributed music to a number of late Romantic-era ballets including Pas de Quatre), Malcolm Arnold (Homage to the Queen, Solitaire), Arthur Bliss (Checkmate), Hans Werner Henze (Gemini), Louis Gottschalk (Far from Denmark), and Boris Asafyev (Flames of Paris, Fountain of the Bakchisarai). However, many composers even less well-known than these are also included.
The gathering of these composers in a single volume, with a glossary of choreographers and an index of ballet titles, makes this book a useful volume for ballet aficionados, music librarians, musicians, and others interested in dance and dance music.
The Haworth Press, 1997; reissued by Routledge, 2012. Hardcover and Ebook, 133 pages.
