Sébastien d'Hérin

Opera-ballet (opéra-ballet) is a French Baroque stage genre that blends sung opera with extensive, self-contained dance episodes. Typically organized as a prologue followed by several independent entrées linked by a loose theme, it favors variety, spectacle, and graceful movement over the strict tragic unity of earlier French opera. Emerging in Paris at the close of the 17th century, the form cultivated elegant divertissements, richly orchestrated choruses, and expressive French recitative, all designed to showcase star singers and dancers. Its subjects range from pastoral and mythological to exotic and festive, creating a refined, courtly entertainment that balances dramatic singing with choreographic display.

Ballet (as a musical genre) refers to orchestral music written to accompany choreographed dance on stage. It prioritizes clear tempi, strongly articulated rhythms, and memorable leitmotifs to support narrative, character, and movement. While rooted in court entertainment, ballet music evolved into a sophisticated, self-sufficient concert art: many ballets yield popular orchestral suites that are performed independently. Typical numbers include adagios, variations, codas, divertissements, character dances, and large ensemble scenes that mirror the dramatic arc of the choreography. Stylistically, ballet spans Baroque courtly idioms, Classical clarity, Romantic lyricism, and 20th‑century modernism and neoclassicism. It is predominantly instrumental (full orchestra), but can occasionally include choral or vocal parts when dramaturgy requires it.

Opera is a large-scale theatrical genre that combines music, drama, and visual spectacle, in which the story is primarily conveyed through singing accompanied by an orchestra. It unites solo voices, ensembles, and chorus with staging, costumes, and often dance to create a total artwork. Emerging in late Renaissance Italy and flourishing in the Baroque era, opera developed signature forms such as recitative (speech-like singing that advances the plot) and aria (lyrical numbers that explore character and emotion). Over the centuries it evolved diverse national styles—Italian bel canto, French grand opéra, German music drama—while continually experimenting with orchestration, harmony, narrative structure, and stagecraft.

Classical music is the notated art-music tradition of Europe and its global descendants, characterized by durable forms, carefully codified harmony and counterpoint, and a literate score-based practice. The term “classical” can refer broadly to the entire Western art-music lineage from the Medieval era to today, not just the Classical period (c. 1750s–1820s). It privileges long-form structures (such as symphonies, sonatas, concertos, masses, and operas), functional or modal harmony, thematic development, and timbral nuance across ensembles ranging from solo instruments to full orchestras and choirs. Across centuries, the style evolved from chant and modal polyphony to tonal harmony, and later to post-tonal idioms, while maintaining a shared emphasis on written notation, performance practice, and craft.