Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Ballet

Ballet. A kind of dramatic poem, representing some fabulous action or subject, divided into several acts, in which several persons appear, and recite things under the name of some deity, or other illustrious character. The term is now particularly used for a stage dance. Ballet is likewise the name given, in France, to a whimsical kind of opera, in which dancing is a principal part of the performance. In most of these ballets the several acts seem so many different subjects, connected only by some general relation foreign to the action, which the spectator could not discover, if' it was not made known in the prologue. Ballets are accompanied with music, and sometimes consist of a series of airs with Efferent movements.