Hey there Kids Commuters! Welcome to Day Two of , “Back to School” week at Kids Commute! We hope your first day of school was great. Today’s back to school themed episode focuses on composition from a mini-ballet (also known as a balletto).
What do swordfighting and ballet have to do with each other? Many of the positions used in fencing are derived from ballet. In the year 1623, composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer wrote a balletto titled, Fechtschule, which is German for Fencing School. In today’s episode, we listen to the balletto and learn about its Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, who is not very well known, but wrote some good music.
KC 202
Balletto: Fencing School (Fechtschule)
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
Musica Antiqua Koln/Reinhardt Goebel
Here's today's Kids Commute:
Here's legendary dancer Gene Kelly cleverly (and gracefully!) showing some of the links between ballet and fencing:
See if you can notice the similarites in this video of a dance class at the Royal Ballet:
Here's a live performance of the music of Festschule:
