Minkus, Léon (actually, Aloisius Ludwig)
Minkus, Léon (actually, Aloisius Ludwig)
Minkus, Léon (actually, Aloisius Ludwig), Austrian violinist and composer; b. Vienna, March 23, 1826; d. there, Dec. 7, 1917. He went to Russia in his youth, and was engaged by Prince Yusupov as concert-master of his serf orch. in St. Petersburg (1853–56). From 1862 to 1872 he was concertmaster of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. In 1869 the Bolshoi Theater produced his ballet Don Quixote to the choreography of the famous Russian ballet master Petipa; its success was extraordinary, and its appeal to the Russian audiences so durable that the work retained its place in the repertoire of Russian ballet companies for more than a century, showing no signs of diminishing popularity. Equally popular was his ballet La Bayadere, produced by Petipa in St. Petersburg in 1877; another successful ballet was his La Fiametta or The Triumph of Love, originally produced in Paris in 1864. From 1872 to 1885 Minkus held the post of court composer of ballet music for the Imperial theaters in St. Petersburg. He remained in Russia until 1891; then returned to Vienna, where he lived in semi- retirement until his death at the age of 91. The ballets of Minkus never took root outside Russia, but their cursive melodies and bland rhythmic formulas suit old-fashioned Russian choreography to the airiest entrechat.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire