The role of the ballet composer at the Paris opera: 1820–1850

A surprising number of important nineteenth-century French composers wrote at least one ballet: Auber, Thomas, Halevy, and Offenbach, and, in the next generation, Saint-Saens, Reyer, Lalo, Massenet, and Widor. Nevertheless, during the heyday of the Romantic period, the 1830s and forties, ballet was still not considered a serious pursuit for the ambitions and talented musician. Such a musician almost invariably aimed to write an opera, or, as a second choice, to write concert music. Ballet was never considered an option of much worth, although it was a useful means of getting known in Opera circles, for a ballet commission was more easily obtained than an opera commission, although it never paid as well. Those composers who wrote for ballet treated their commissions in a rather carefree manner. Jouvin tells how even a fine ballet composer, Ferdinant Herold, would compose his ballets at table while talking to his friends; if these friends cautioned him