Biography
Ludwig Minkus, also known as Léon Fyodorovich Minkus, was an Austrian composer of ballet music, violinist and teacher. He was born in Vienna on 23 March 1826 and died there on 7 December 1917.
Minkus worked in Paris before moving to Russia, where he served as composer of ballet music to the St Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1871 until his retirement in 1886. He collaborated extensively with choreographer Marius Petipa.
His best-known scores include the music for La Source (1866, jointly with Léo Delibes), Don Quixote (1869) and La Bayadère (1877). Excerpts from his ballets, including Don Quixote and La Bayadère, were used in the 1977 film The Turning Point.
