Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917). Austrian composer and musician
Austrian-born Ludwig Minkus was a violinist and composer of music for ballet. He studied at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, and was appointed principal violinist in the Vienna Court Opera before emigrating to St Petersburg, playing as principal violinist in the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. In his early days there he also composed two ballet scores: L′Union de Thétis et Pélée (1857) and Deux jours en Venise (1862). Following his composition of an entr’acte for Orfa, in 1863 Arthur Saint, ballet master of the Imperial Theatres in St Petersburg commissioned Minkus to write a full-length ballet, La Flamme d′amour, ou La Salamandre, which later toured to the Théâtre Impérial de l’Opéra in Paris.

In Paris, Minkus collaborated with Léo Delibes in 1866 in writing the music for Saint-Léon’s ballet La Source. Minkus’ collaborations with Saint-Léon attracted the attention of Marius Petipa, and he was commissioned to write the music for Don Quixote in 1869. The fruitful collaboration between Minkus and Petipa resulted in many more ballets, including La Camargo and La Bayadère. La Bayadère remains Minkus and Petipa’s most celebrated ballet and continues in repertoire of major ballet companies across the world.