La Bayadère, the ballet now appearing at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, was originally created by ballet master Marius Petipa, and it was first performed in 1877. The music, however, was composed by Austrian Ludwig Minkus, whose job was to compose music for the ballet.
TRADITIONAL STORY: (L-R) Alesia Popova and Vladimir Arhangelski perform their dance at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)La Bayadère, (The Temple Dancer) predates the full-blown Romantic ballets like Swan Lake and is typical for its time. Petipa favored the romantic tradition in which ballets featured elaborate tableaux interspersed with melodramatic action.
ELABORATE COSTUMES: Dancer of the Hungarian National Ballet Group, David Miklos Kerenyi. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)Often, the story’s love interest embodied some feminine ideal, and, in keeping with the romantic inclination for the fantastic, the setting was usually in an exotic spot—all to provide the opportunity for intricate dances and mimed story-telling, amidst sumptuous décor and lavish costumes.
EXOTIC LOCATIONS: Dancer Levente Bajari (C). (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)Ballet composer Minkus was first a violin virtuoso, who played first violin for the Ballet company. When he took the role as First Ballet Composer for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, he was obligated to write a new ballet each year. Minkus had to create music on demand, often compiling composition from bits of music he had already composed and filed away.
Moreover, the ballet master, not the composer, had control over the composition. At times he had to write music to fit dance that was already choreographed or had to rework a musical passage to suit a ballerina’s special talen
