A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ballabile

by Ebenezer Prout

BALLABILE (Ital., from ballare, to dance). A piece of music adapted for dancing. The term can be applied to any piece of dance music. Meyerbeer frequently uses it in his operas, e. g. in 'Robert le Diable,' where the three dances in the scene of the resurrection of the nuns in the third act are entitled in the score '1^o. 2^do. and 3^o. ballabile.' He also applies the term to the dance music of the ball-room scene at the commence- of the fifth act of the 'Huguenots.' More recently Dr. Hans von Bülow has given the title of 'Ballabili' to the dance-numbers of his 'Carnevale di Milano,' these dances being respectively a polacca, a waltz, a polka, a quadrille, a mazurka, a tarantella, and a galop.

[ E. P. ]