was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage.

His most notable works include ballets Copplia (1870) and Sylvia (1876) as well as the operas Le roi l'a dit (1873) and Lakm (1883
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was one of the greatest Russian composers of all time. He wrote the music for three of the most famous ballets: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.

Swan Lake: First performed in 1877, Swan Lake was Tchaikovsky's first ballet score. The popular classical ballet tells the tale of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The Sleeping Beauty: First performed in 1890, The Sleeping Beauty was Tchaikovsky's first successful ballet. The Sleeping Beauty tells the story of the timeless fairy tale based on a deep sleep interrupted by the kiss of a prince. The Nutcracker: First performed in 1892, The Nutcracker was Tchaikovsky's final ballet. The Nutcracker tells the story of a facinating Christmas dream of a young girl named Clara. The Nutcracker has become the most famous ballet of all time Tchaikovsky created some of the world's greatest ballet music. His music contained both classical and romantic melodies, which prompted some critics to attack his work. Tchaikovsky believed in his music and defended it by saying that ballet music was not inferior to any other form of music. With growing confidence, he composed several unique works, from piano solos to concertos, symphonies, and operas. Tchaikovsky established himself as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic period.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (sometimes spelt Strawinsky or Stravinskii; Russian: , transliterated: Igor Fdorovi Stravinskij; Russian pronunciation: [ir fjodrvt strvinskj]; 17 June [O.S. 5 June] 1882 6 April 1971) was a Russian, and later French and American composer, pianist and conductor. He is acknowledged by many as one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.

Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). The Rite of Spring, which provoked a riot during its premiere, transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary who pushed the boundaries of musical design

Until about the second half of the 19th century the role of music in ballet was secondary, with the main emphasis on dance, while music was simply a compilation of danceable tunes. Writing "ballet music" used to be a job for musical craftsmen, rather than for masters. For example, critics of the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky mentioned his writing of ballet music as something demeaning.

Lully created a style that was separate, wherein the music told a story

The audience for ballet generally prefers romantic music, so new ballets are confected by a marriage of old works with new choreography. A famous example is

Ballet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance. It was not until the 19th century that ballet gained status as a classical form. In ballet, the terms classical and romantic are chronologically reversed from musical usage. Thus, the 19th century classical period in ballet coincided with the 19th century Romantic era in Music. Ballet music composers from the 17th19th centuries, including the likes of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, were predominantly in France and Russia. Yet with the increased international notoriety seen in Tchaikovskys lifetime, ballet music composition and ballet in general spread across the western world.[1]