Chapter 5: The Constituent Features of Dance: Aural Setting

Question 1

How is Music used in Swan Lake?

Answer 1

• leitmotif recurring musical theme to evoke a feeling towards a character or situation or signal the presence of a character
• instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet, trumbone, trumpet, cymbal, bass drums
• perfect balance as the number of instruments creates a rich quality of sound to enhance the dance movement
• tremendous orchestration in direct correlation with the mood of the dance to evoke the character’s feeling e.g. the fast string section to emulate the prince’s reeling brain as he is overcome by his love driven delusions
• classical music appropiate stly for classical ballet
• performed live in the pit more atmospheric
• composer Tchaikovsky