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BALLET

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 270 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BALLET , a performance in which dancing, See also:

music and panto-See also:mime are involved. Originally derived from the (Sicilian) Gr. (3aXXq'eta, to See also:dance, the word has passed through the Med. See also:Lat. ballare (with ballator as synonymous with saltator) to the Ital. ballare and ballata, to the Fr. ballet, to the O. Eng. word balletic, and to ballad. In O. Fr., according to See also:Rousseau, ballet signifies " to dance, to sing, to rejoice "; and thus it incorporates three distinct See also:modern words, " ballet, See also:ball and ballad." Through the See also:gradual changes in the amusements of different ages, the meaning of the first two words has at length become limited to dancing, and the third is now confined to singing. But, although See also:ballads are no longer the vocal accompaniments to dances See also:round the maypole, old ballads are still sung to dance tunes. The See also:present acceptation of the word ballet is—a theatrical See also:representation in which a See also:story is told only by gesture, accompanied by music, which should be characterized by stronger emphasis than would be employed with the See also:voice. The dancing269 should be connected with the story but is more commonly incidental. The See also:French word was found to be so comprehensive as to require further See also:definition, and thus the above-described would be distinguished as the ballet d'See also:action or See also:pantomime ballet, while a single See also:scene, such as that of a See also:village festival with its dances, would now be termed a divertissement. The ballet d'action, to which the changed meaning of the word is to be ascribed, and therewith the introduction of modern ballet, has been generally attributed to the 15th See also:century.

Novelty of entertainment was then sought for in the splendid courts of See also:

Italy, in See also:order to celebrate events which were thought See also:great in their See also:time, such as the marriages of princes, or the triumphs of their arms. Invention was on the See also:rack for novelty, and the skill of the machinist was taxed to the utmost. It has been supposed that the See also:art of the old See also:Roman pantomimi was then revived, to add to the attractions of See also:court-dances. Under the Roman See also:empire the pantomimi had represented either a mythological story, or perhaps a scene from a See also:Greek tragedy, by See also:mute gestures, while a See also:chorus, placed in the background, sang cantica to narrate the See also:fable, or to describe the action of the scene. The question is whether mute pantomimic action, which is the essence of modern ballet, was carried through those court entertainments, in which See also:kings, queens, princes and princesses, took parts with the courtiers; or whether it is of later growth, and derived from professional dances upon the See also:stage. The former is the See also:general See also:opinion, but the court entertainments of Italy and See also:France were masques or masks which included declamation and See also:song, like those of See also:Ben See also:Jonson with Inigo See also:Jones for the court of See also:James I. The earliest modern ballet on See also:record was that given by Bergonzio di See also:Botta at See also:Tortona to celebrate the See also:marriage of the See also:duke of See also:Milan in 1489. The ballet, like other forms of dancing, was See also:developed and perfected in France; it is closely associated with the See also:history of the See also:opera; but in See also:England it came much later than the opera, for it was not introduced until the 18th century, and in the first See also:Italian operas given in See also:London there was no ballet. During the regency of See also:Lord See also:Middlesex a ballet-See also:master was appointed and a See also:corps of dancers formed. The ballet has had three distinct stages in its development. For a See also:long time it was to be found only at the court, when princely entertainments were given to celebrate great occasions. At that time ladies of the highest See also:rank performed in the ballet and spent much time in practising and perfecting themselves for it.

See also:

Catherine de'See also:Medici introduced these entertainments into France and spent large sums of See also:money on devising performances to distract her son's See also:attention from the affairs of the See also:state. Baltasarini, otherwise known as Beaujoyeulx, was the composer of a famous entertainment given by Catherine in 1581 called the " Ballet Comique de la Reyne." This marks an era in the history of the opera and ballet, for we find here for the first time dance and music arranged for the display of coherent dramatic ideas. See also:Henry IV., See also:Louis XIII. and XIV. were all lovers of the ballet and performed various characters in them, and See also:Richelieu used the ballet as an See also:instrument for the expression of See also:political purposes. See also:Lully was the first to make an art of the See also:composition of ballet music and he was the first to insist on the See also:admission of See also:women as ballet dancers, feminine characters having hitherto been assumed by men dressed as women. When Louis XIV. became too See also:fat to dance, the ballet at court became unpopular and thus was ended the first stage of its development. It was then adopted in the colleges at See also:prize distributions and other occasions, when the ballets of Lully and See also:Quinault were commonly performed. The third See also:period in the history of the ballet was marked by its See also:appearance on the stage, where it has remained ever since. It should be added that up till the third period dramatic poems had accompanied the ballet and the dramatic meaning was helped out with speech and song; but with the See also:advent of the third period speech disappeared and the purely pantomime performance, or ballet d'action, was instituted. The See also:father of ballet dancing as we know it at the present See also:day was See also:Jean Georges See also:Noverre (q.v.). The ballet d'action was really invented by him; in fact, the ballet has never advanced beyond the stage to which he brought it; it has rather gone back. The essence of Noverre's theory was that See also:mere display was not enough to ensure See also:interest and See also:life for the ballet; and some years ago See also:Sir See also:Augustus See also:Harris'expressed a similar opinion when he was asked wherein See also:lay the See also:reason of the decadence of the modern ballet. Noverre brought to a high degree of perfection the art of presenting a story by means of pantomime, and he never allowed dancing which was not the See also:direct expression of a particular attitude of mind.

Apart from Noverre, the greatest ballet-master was undoubtedly Gaetano Apolline Balthazare See also:

Vestris (q.v.), who modestly called himself le dieu de la danse, and was, indeed, the finest male dancer that See also:Europe ever produced. See also:Gluck composed Iphigenie en Aulide in See also:conjunction with Vestris. In 1750 the two greatest dancers of the day performed together in See also:Paris in a ballet-opera called See also:Leandre et See also:Hero; the dancers were Vestris and Madame See also:Camargo (q.v.), who introduced See also:short skirts in the ballet. The word " balette " was first used in the See also:English See also:language by See also:Dryden in 1667, and the first descriptive ballet seen in London was The See also:Tavern Bilkers, which was played at See also:Drury See also:Lane in 1702. Since then the ballet in England has been purely See also:exotic and has merely followed on the lines of French developments. The palmy days of the ballet in England were in the first See also:half of the 19th century, when a royal See also:revenue was spent on the See also:maintenance of this fashionable attraction. Some famous dancers of this period were Carlotta See also:Grisi, Mdlle See also:Taglioni (who is said to have turned the heads of an entire See also:generation), Fanny See also:Elssler, Mdlle Cerito, See also:Miss P. See also:Horton, Miss Lucile Grahn and Mdlle Carolina Rosati. In later years Kate See also:Vaughan was a remarkably graceful dancer of a new type in England, and, in Sir Augustus Harris's opinion, she did much to elevate the modern art. She was the first to make skirt-dancing popular, although that achievement will not be regarded as an unmixed benefit by every student of the art. Skirt-dancing, in itself a beautiful See also:exhibition, is a departure from true dancing in the sense that the steps are of little importance in it; and we have seen its development extend to a mere exhibition of whirling draperies under many-coloured See also:lime-See also:lights. The best known of Miss Vaughan's disciples and imitators (each of whom has contributed something to the art on her own See also:account) were Miss Sylvia See also:Grey and Miss Letty See also:Lind.

Of the older and classical school of ballet-dancing Adeline Genee became in London the finest exponent. But ballet-dancing, affected by a tendency in modern entertainment to make less and less demands on the intelligence and intellectual appreciation of the public, and more and more demands on the eye—the sense most easily affected—has gradually developed into a spectacle, the See also:

chief interest of which is quite See also:independent of dancing. Thousands of pounds are spent on dressing a small See also:army of women who do little but See also:march about the stage and See also:group themselves in accordance with some See also:design of See also:colour and See also:mass; and no more is asked of the intelligence than to believe that a ballet dressed, for example, in military See also:uniform is a compliment to or glorification of the army. Only a few out of hundreds of members of the corps de ballet are really dancers and they perform against a background of colour afforded by the See also:majority. It seems unlikely that we shall see any revival of the best period and styles of dancing until a higher See also:standard of See also:grace and See also:manners becomes fashionable in society. With the constantly increasing abolition of ceremony, courtliness of manner is See also:bound to diminish; and only in an See also:atmosphere of ceremony, See also:courtesy and See also:chivalry can the dance maintain itself in perfection. BALL-See also:FLOWER, an architectural See also:ornament in the See also:form of a ball inserted in the See also:cup of a flower, which came into use in the latter See also:part of the 13th, and was in great See also:vogue in the See also:early part of the 14th century. It is generally placed in rows at equal distances in the hollow of a moulding, frequently by the sides of mullions. The earliest known is said to be in the See also:west part of See also:Salisbury See also:cathedral, where it is mixed with the tooth ornament. It seems to have been used more and more frequently, till at See also:Gloucester cathedral, in the See also:south See also:side, it is in profusion.

End of Article: BALLET

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