Léon Minkus

Ludwig Minkus (Russian: Людвиг Минкус), also known as Léon Fyodorovich Minkus (23 March 1826 – 7 December 1917), was a Jewish-Austrian composer of ballet music, a violin virtuoso and teacher. Minkus is noted for the music he composed while serving as the official Composer of Ballet Music to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in Russia. During his long career, he wrote for the original works and numerous revivals staged by the renowned Ballet Masters Arthur Saint-Léon and Marius Petipa. Among the composer's most celebrated compositions was his score for La source (1866; composed jointly with Léo Delibes), Don Quixote (1869); and La Bayadère (1877). Minkus also wrote supplemental material for insertion into already existing ballets. The most famous and enduring of these pieces is the Grand Pas classique from the ballet Paquita, which was added by Marius Petipa especially for a revival of the ballet staged for the benefit performance of the prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem in 1881. For this revival Minkus also composed the Mazurka des enfants (Children's Mazurka) and an expanded edition of the ballet's Pas de trois, which would go on to become known as the Minkus pas de trois Today, Minkus's music is some of the most performed in all of ballet, and is a most integral part of the traditional classical ballet repertory.