Verdi: Ballet Music

On this new double album, the Munich Radio Orchestra, led by its chief conductor Ivan Repušić, presents Giuseppe Verdi's complete ballet music. Following the conventions of the Paris Opéra, Verdi was required to compose ballet music for the original or first French performances of his stage works. Between 1847 and 1894, he created a total of seven, sometimes extensive, so-called divertissements. With catchy melodies, sweeping and sharply accented rhythms, tone-painting effects, vivid gestures, and, above all, an immensely colorful orchestration, he succeeded in giving new impetus to contemporary ballet music. While the ballet music in productions of Verdi's operas was generally cut for a long time – with the exception of "Aida" – it has recently been performed more frequently and related to the dramaturgy of the respective work. Verdi’s ballet music for "Les vêpres siciliennes" (Les quatre saisons – The Four Seasons) and "Jérusalem" are the most extensive he ever created. In the dance sequence composed for "Le trouvère," which utilizes musical material from the gypsy scenes, he established a close musical-dramaturgical connection to the stage action. For "Macbeth," he composed an extensive ballet that illustrates the Hecate scenes from Shakespeare’s drama. In the third act of "Don Carlos," a ballet de la reine titled "La Pérégrina" takes place in the gardens of Queen Elisabeth to festively initiate the coronation anniversary of the Spanish King Philip the following day. For the premiere of "Aida" in Cairo, there were no obligations regarding the design of dance sequences, which is why it is likely that Verdi came closest here to his ideal of the most direct dramaturgical connection between the dances and the opera’s plot. The shortest of his ballet pieces, featuring orientalist-sounding dances, was created for "Otello." These beautiful, well-crafted pieces of music should no longer be withheld from the public.