Russian Ballet Music from the Last Quarter of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century: from Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky

The article examines the changes of the rhythmical organization of ballet music from the last quarter of the 19th century. The features of dance music prior to Piotr Tchaikovsky are traced out, and the fundamental meaning of the metric principle is established in it. The ballet dansante music develops a functional metro-rhythmic system, in which meter plays an organizing role. Two types of interconnection of meter and rhythm emerge: with the subservience of rhythm to meter – the basic (metrical) function, as well as one involving a change of meter by means of rhythmic structures – the changing (unstable) metric function. The action of the changing metric functions may be traced in the ballets of Tchaikovsky and Glazunov in one of the regulated forms – the classical dance suite. In the expositional, middle and conclusive sections the lower layers of musical texture are subject to alteration, whereas in the transitional sections, designated in choreography for the motion of the dancer from one point to another, the changing metric functions manifest themselves in all the layers of the musical texture. In Tchaikovsky’s and Glazunov’s ballet music a number of effects of accumulation of metric instability are formed: from the usage of various rhythmic groups, rhythmic acceleration or retardation to change of meter (as well as hemiolas and polymetry). Thereby, succession is established between the dance music of Tchaikovsky and Glazunov and the innovations in Stravinsky’s ballet music. Keywords: ballet music, rhythm, divertimento, metrical functions, the classical dance cycle.