Aspects of Style, Gesture, Form, and Culture in the Music of Nineteenth-century Ballets

This article outlines some methods and findings from interdisciplinary scholarship of ballet music in the nineteenth-century, from the perspective of music and musicology. The intention is to summon scholarly interest as well as elucidate beyond the small audience of dance and music scholars for whom this work is already important. This essay connects the many individual threads of Ertz’s research projects together for the first time, placing this work alongside that of other dance-music scholars (whose valuable work occupies much space in the notes). Select works from Italian, Danish, and French theaters are discussed as examples of European theatrical dance music’s gestural style and musical approach, alongside its placement in a wider dance-music history. The contextual details of selected works highlight aspects of nineteenth-century culture which are of interest to musicologists, including nationalism, gender, social dance, and the trend toward fantastic subjects, for example. Some broad comparisons are made between regions. One goal is a more complete picture of the intertwining and connected nature of topics that have traditionally interested music historians with those of interest to dance scholars. Though focused on theatrical dance, the author argues that dance music is essential to nineteenth-century musicology. This article is an expanded version of a round table presentation given for the musicological conference XXVIII Colloquio di Musicologia del «Saggiatore musicale» in November 2024, as part of a panel on dance topics.