Paul Murphy on Minkus and the score for Don Quixote

In some ways, I think Ludwig Minkus is the ultimate ballet composer. His music is absolutely perfect for classical ballet. Minkus understood exactly what Marius Petipa* wanted. Everything in the music is highly danceable, rhythmical and lively, or tender where it needs to be, particularly in the pas de deux. He simply knew how to write for dancers.

It’s also worth remembering that Minkus came before Tchaikovsky. Early on, choreographers struggled with Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores because they were too symphonic; now, of course, we worship them. But in the 19th century, choreographers were used to composers like Minkus, Drigo and Pugni – people who wrote music that worked for ballet.

Don Quixote is a wonderful example of that. The remit was to take a section of Cervantes’ novel, which is enormous, and turn it into a ballet. What we’re left with is really a small, lively story about Kitri and Basilio rather than the Don himself. The book is about the Don’s journey and his dreamlike world, but the ballet becomes a vibrant, Spanish-flavoured fiesta in three acts. It’s tremendous fun.

Some of the music is genuinely beautiful, like the pas de deux in Acts I and II, for example. There are also moments that are quite unusual. One piece Carlos chose for the Act II pas de deux at the beginning of the act is not especially predictable, but that music is actually part of the original score. Minkus isn’t always as formulaic as people assume.

Yes, some of the Spanish references can feel a little clichéd with castanet-style rhythms and lots of repetition, but it’s a brilliant piece of ballet writing. Minkus is often shunned by musicians because his music isn’t like Tchaikovsky's or Brahms's, but for ballet it works tremendously well.

Don Quixote was never part of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s repertoire until Carlos brought it to the Company. He had already created the ballet for The Royal Ballet, but that production wasn’t suitable for touring, so the designs were reworked for BRB. Choreographically, the ballet remains largely the same, but musically we made some important decisions.

Carlos’s original version was orchestrated by Martin Yates, who added a great deal of colour and complexity. While the essential music remained intact, those additions made it very difficult to lift the tempi. Beyond a certain speed, the orchestra simply couldn’t play it, and Carlos wanted the whole ballet to feel lighter, brighter and more virtuosic.

So we decided to return closer to Minkus’s original score. Belgian composer and arranger Hans Vercauteren worked from the original materials, thinning out the orchestration while retaining the flavour of Minkus. There were corrections to be made along the way – 19th-century ballet scores are often littered with inconsistencies – but the aim was never to impose a new voice, only to restore the music so it could move. That decision transformed the ballet. It allowed us to lift the pace, energise the dancers, and let the score sparkle in the way it’s meant to.

Conducting Don Quixote is great fun, but it’s not easy. The music is relatively straightforward, but there are many changes of speed, and there’s a huge amount of interaction with the stage. Unlike some ballets where the music can lead more freely, Don Quixote requires constant attention to the dancers. With different casts, different Kitris and Basilios, the tempi will always shift slightly, and we have to respond. It’s also a very busy score, particularly for the musicians in the orchestra, which is unusual. There’s a lot to manage, not just for the principals but for the corps de ballet as well. But it’s a joy to conduct, and the orchestra genuinely love playing it.

Don Quixote is a fun and virtuosic ballet. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia and I really look forward to revisiting it.

* The French and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and ballet master Marius Petipa is best-known for having created the original versions of the classical ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. He is often regarded as the father of classical ballet for his work and for his collaborations with composers like Tchaikovsky.

** highly structured and complex.