''Ballet égyptien'', Op. 12 (1875), is

Alexandre Luigini Alexandre Clément Léon Joseph Luigini (9 March 185029 July 1906) was a French composer and conductor, especially active in the opera house.Charton D. Alexandre Luigini. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, ...

's best-known composition and the only one of his works in the standard repertoire. It was dedicated to

Jules Pasdeloup Jules Étienne Pasdeloup (15 September 1819 – 13 August 1887) was a French conductor. Life Pasdeloup was born in Paris. His father was an assistant conductor at the Opéra Comique; he was educated in music at the Conservatoire de Paris, leavi ...

. The

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

consists of eight movements, from which two different concert suites have been extracted. The first suite is the better known. It originally gained prominence when it was included in Act II of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's opera ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' for a performance in Lyon in 1886. The fame of the piece inspired Luigini to write other pieces on exotic themes, such as ''Ballet russe'', ''Marche d'émir'', and

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

s ''Fête arabe'', Op. 49 and ''Carnaval turc'', Op. 51. ''Ballet égyptien'' has been arranged for piano solo, 2 pianos 4-hands and 2 pianos 8-hands, as well as for brass band. It has been recorded numerous times, by conductors such as

Anatole Fistoulari Anatole Fistoulari (20 August 1907 – 21 August 1995) was a Ukrainian conductor, who became a British citizen.Obituary – Anatole Fistoulari. ''Opera'', October 1995, Vol.46 No.10, p1172. A child prodigy, he later conducted around Europe and Amer ...

John Lanchbery John Arthur Lanchbery OBE (15 May 1923 – 27 February 2003) was an English-Australian composer and conductor, famous for his ballet arrangements. He served as the Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972, Principal Conductor ...

Jean Fournet Jean Fournet (14 April 1913 – 3 November 2008) was a French flautist and conductor. Fournet was born in Rouen in 1913. His father was a flutist who gave him some instruction on the flute and music theory. Fournet was then trained at the Con ...

and

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...

. It often appears in compilations of light music.ArkivMusic
/ref> It is perhaps best known as the background music used by the British music hall act

Wilson, Keppel and Betty Wilson, Keppel and Betty formed a popular British music hall and vaudeville act in the middle decades of the 20th century. They capitalised on the fashion for Ancient Egyptian imagery following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The " ...

for their sand dance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballet egyptien 1875 compositions Ballets by Alexandre Luigini Ballet music Compositions for symphony orchestra Orchestral suites 1875 ballet premieres