One of my all time favorite musical / ballet pieces is a dance from Swan Lake: The Dance of the Cygnets:
One comment: when I first heard this piece, as a little kid of 9 or 10, the piece ended softly; just two staccato chords, pop, pop! That's my preference even today, not two thundering chords, which sound really stupid.
Tchaikovsky was really a genius. I occasionally try to imagine composing this piece—thinking of it as just a piece of music—and I think what an amazing piece of music it is! Deep and learned, a well a cute and cheeky, at the same time.
And then the orchestration, starting of with nothing but double reeds (at least, that what it sounds like to me; there could be other hidden instruments. And later, there are flutes joining in)!
It is so magical to see it ḍanced; these days just a small group of four dance it, with linked hands, I think following the choreography of Petipa, or someone like that. And I have seen not one but two comedy versions of the same dance, with one baby swan totally confused, and confusing the other three a well! I declare there's nothing funnier than the comedy version of that dance! If only Tchaikovsky were alive to see it!
Pure genius.
