Alexander Glazunov (1865 – 1936) was a Russian composer, conductor, and pianist. He succeeded in achieving a synthesis between the musical currents of the so-called “Mighty Hope”, which pursued a national-Russian ideal of composition, oriented towards the idiom of folklore, and the opposite, more Western-oriented current (with Tschaikowsky, among others). Glazunov is praised as a brilliant orchestrator. Ballet music was a favorite genre for him, he wrote four major works for it.

“Scènes de Ballet” is one of them, it consists of 8 separate movements, is composed for orchestra, and “Preamble” is its opening movement. It begins with a brilliant fanfare, followed by a lively, Italian-style dance (from bar 34).