copy, distribute or otherwise exploit the music that you find as a result of visit the
sites ... about ballet scores, and the first question they ask is usually 'Do you know
... Score and parts - A full score (see above) and all the separate parts for each.
Music Factsheet 16 Online sheet music for dance repertoire
Introduction There is an increasing amount of non-copyright music available for download on the web. The good news for ballet teachers and pianists is that many of the most famous ballet scores such as Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker and Coppélia are out of copyright, and hence freely available to download and print for your own use. For ballets and other works that are still in copyright, or for which no downloadable score is currently available online, you will need to find the music from a music retailer. This factsheet will help you to do both of those things. It is mainly, however, about making use of the great store of online music that is legally available for free. Copyright issues Copyright law is complex, and you should always read any copyright notices that are placed on the sites below. You should not take any advice given on this site as being a licence to copy, distribute or otherwise exploit the music that you find as a result of visit the sites recommended here. Check our own copyright factsheet if you want more advice on your rights and responsibilities. Your greatest friend - the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) The IMSLP is a store-house of non-copyright music that gets larger and larger by the day as people around scan and upload public domain scores. The sections below will be of particular interest to ballet people, but as you will see from browsing around the site, there are hundreds of scores here, many of which might have been used for ballets, or could be used to create new dances. Go straight to the International Music Score Library Project main page or for specific ballet scores, see below: Tchaikovsky scores:
Swan Lake (1895 version) piano score The Nutcracker - piano score. There are two versions: Tchaikovsky's is the one most pianists know. Taneev's is much harder to play, but has extra detail, particularly in things like the Snow Pas de Deux. The Sleeping Beauty - please read the copyright provisos carefully. It looks pretty much as if you would be legally permitted to download this score, but do what the site advises and read the advice carefully for the territory where you are going to use the music.
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Other scores:
Coppélia (Léo Delibes) Giselle (Adolphe Adam) Don Quixote (Ludwig Minkus) La Source (Act I and Act III only, Ludwig Minkus)
Other sites, other scores The Royal Library in Denmark has a large collection of 18th & 19th century ballet scores, including some by Bournonville.
Complete list of ballet and theatre music from 18th - 19th centuries (in Danish - so make sure you know the Danish title of what you're looking for) La Sylphide (manuscript score for piano) A Folktale (partial piano score) Selection from various Danish ballets (or to be precise, Nordic ones) including the tarantella from Napoli
The American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress has thousands of pieces of sheet music. There are only a few pieces that would class as ballet music as such, but there are hundreds of scores of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, and other pieces that are useful for setting dances, or using in class. The Sibley Music Library at the University of Rochester has several ballet scores on microfilm, including ten by Cesare Pugni. Finding your way around a ballet score The best way to find the piece you need is to look at the inlay booklet of a recording first, and find out the name of the section you need. You'll probably know the music in question as 'the bit where Ilsa came on' or 'the end of the fight scene' or 'the ballroom scene'. However, to locate the music, you need to know how the piece is titled in the score. Quite often it's nothing more descriptive than Act I Scene III No. 4. If you need to ask a musician to locate a particular piece in the score, make sure you have first checked with your recording for any helpful or significant numbering or names. What if the piece I want isn't here? If the composer of the music in question has not been dead for more than 70 years, then you will not be able to obtain the music online without payment. For this reason, be suspicious of any site which claims to offer you music to download unless the composer is out of copyright, as this is a breach of copyright, and you will be considered responsible as well as the site offering the download. To obtain the score of music that is in copyright, it helps to know who the publisher of the work is. It is rare for a music retailer to know much about ballet scores, and the first question they ask is usually 'Do you know who publishes it?' This can be the difficult part. The following are the quickest methods:
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Check on an online bookstore such as Amazon to see if the score is available, or was once available there - because even if it is no longer for sale or out of print, this will give you details of who the publisher is, and then you can try to locate the publisher. Check an online library catalogue in your country. In the UK, one of the best places to start is COPAC, because this searches several libraries at once. In the US, try the Library of Congress or the New York Public Library. It is important to search in your own country too, since publishers often have agents in different countries. For example, in the UK you would contact Boosey & Hawkes about most Prokofiev scores, but in Germany, you would need to contact Sikorski. Be aware too that composers often have works with different composers. Visit or ring up a music retailer or publisher, and ask them for help. How helpful this is will depend on what their focus is as a retailer, and how knowledgeable their staff are about the kind of music you are interested in. Visit an online music store, and search - you may be lucky! However, it is usually much more productive to find the publisher first, and then see if you can obtain the score direct from the publisher's online store (if they have one). This is because most retailers are unlikely to keep ballet stores in stock, so will go to the publishers anyway to obtain your score. You are simply cutting out a step in the process by going straight to the publisher.
What am I looking for? Most of the time, what you will be looking for is a piano reduction of the score in question for two hands. Always check and double check what you are getting, because music is often sold in various versions and arrangements. The following is just a short glossary of the terms used in music retail:
Full score - a conductor's score, with the notes played by every instrument in the orchestra. Piano reduction an arrangement of an orchestral score, or score for more than one instrument, suitable for playing on the piano. In German, called a Klavierauszug worth knowing, since there are so many German music publishers. Piano, two hands - the term used to describe a normal piano score Piano, four hands (or piano duet) - as you might guess, a piano duet. However, this is not to be confused with 'for two pianos' or '2 pianos, four hands'. A piano duet is for two people playing at the same piano. Score and parts - A full score (see above) and all the separate parts for each member of the orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn etc.) Study score - A full score in miniature (they are also called 'miniature scores'), used by students, or avid concert goers who want to follow the score as they listen to a piece of music.
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Final note: Some pieces are just not available in versions for piano, 2 hands, in which case if you really want the music, you will have to get a pianist to arrange the music for you, either at the keyboard itself if the score is quite straightforward, or as a separate arranging task. Don't present a pianist with a score that wasn't written for piano, 2 hands and expect them to be able to play it. Some can, and some scores are less difficult than others to reduce at sight, but it's not a skill everyone has. The ballet score I want isn't commercially available, how can I get a copy? The short answer is that you probably can't. Some works are the property of the ballet companies that commissioned them, or the scores are specially cut and edited for a specific production. The only people who have a copy of the score are the company in question. Be aware, too, that if you are interested in a particular company's production of a ballet, even if it is a classic like Swan Lake or Giselle, the chances are that the music was edited and adapted for that production and that the commercially available or public domain scores will not exactly reflect the order or content of that production.
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