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December 1892
- The Nutcracker, ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The last of his three ballets, it was first performed in December 1892.
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5 days ago · The Nutcracker, ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The last of his three ballets, it was first performed in December 1892. The Nutcracker tells a story about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King.
- Mariinsky Ballet
Mariinsky Ballet, prominent Russian ballet company, part of...
- Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre, Russian imperial theatre in St....
- Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall, historic concert hall at Seventh Avenue and...
- Mariinsky Ballet
The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky's last opera, Iolanta, on 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1892, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. [8]
The New York City Ballet first performed George Balanchine’s Nutcracker in 1954 but the holiday ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City.
- The Nutcracker was based on a creepy story by E.T.A. Hoffmann. In 1816, German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann penned “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” (sometimes translated as “Nutcracker and the King of Mice”), a story in which a young girl named Marie Stahlbaum (German for “steel tree”) receives a nutcracker from her godfather, Drosselmeier.
- There’s a reason Marie is sometimes named Clara. For a children’s story, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” is a pretty nuanced portrayal of the way in which children experience imagination and reality without any separation.
- Tchaikovsky did not have a good time composing The Nutcracker. In 1890, Ivan Vzevolovsky, director of the Imperial Theatres (an Imperial Russia–era consortium of theaters), was looking to recreate the recent success of The Sleeping Beauty by having the team behind it develop a new ballet.
- Tchaikovsky debuted a selection of the music in concert first. In March 1892—about nine months before the ballet was scheduled to premiere—Tchaikovsky conducted a concert in St. Petersburg for the Russian Musical Society.
- Origin
- Later
- Plot
- Reception
- Post-Premier
- Modern Times
- Music
- Sugar Plum Fairy
- References
- Further Reading
The origin of The Nutcracker has its roots in the great success of The Sleeping Beauty ballet. This ballet was staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890. It was the work of the director of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky; the composer, Tchaikovsky; and the choreographer, Marius Petipa. Vsevolozsky...
In 1919, choreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a production. He cut out the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, and gave their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker Prince. They were now played by adults instead of children. A shortened version of the ballet was first performed outside Russia in Budapest's Royal Opera House in 1927. In 1934, Vasili Vai...
The ballet takes place in Germany in the early 19th century. The curtain rises on a Christmas Eve party in the Silberhaus home. Guests arrive. The children get their presents, then dance about the room. The door opens. A strange little man named Drosselmeyer comes into the room. He is a toy-maker. He is also Clara Silberhaus's godfather. He has fou...
Criticism of the ballet was mixed. A portion thought of it to be a noble composition, with exemplary themes and emotion, however many thought otherwise. Russian balletomanes liked expert adult dancers and the large cast of children was critically attacked. One person complained that the ballet was "produced with children for children." Even the adu...
The ballet's initial run ended in January 1893. When the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917, many ballet dancers were put out of work. They went to Europe. They talked to their new friends in Europe about The Nutcracker. Some selections were performed here and there. In 1940 Walt Disney used some of the music in his movie Fantasia. In 1944 the Nu...
Today, The Nutcracker has been staged and seen by many people all over the world. Jennifer Fisher points out that it is "the most popular and most often [staged] ballet in the world." In North America, it is a yearly event in many places. Parents and children take part in staging the ballet and dancing in it. Trained ballerinas dance side by side w...
Instrumentation
Tchaikovsky wrote The Nutcracker for an orchestra of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. To this orchestra he added a celesta for the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" in Act 2 and children's instruments—drums, trumpets, cymbals, bird calls, whistles, and a rattle—for the Christmas party in Act 1. The instruments were specially ordered and tuned to Tchaikovsky's orders. The rattle is heard in the orchestra pitwhen Fritz cracks nuts in Act 1, and the other instruments are heard when the b...
The Sugar Plum Fairy is a character in The Nutcracker. The Sugar Plum Fairy only dances in Act 2 of the ballet. Clara falls asleep, and the second act could be seen as Clara's dream. Roland John Wiley however, thinks that the second act is a reality shaped by Drosselmeyer. The Sugar Plum Fairy is the ruler of the Land of Sweets. She welcomes the Nu...
Anderson, Jack (1979), The Nutcracker Ballet, New York: Gallery Books, ISBN 0-8317-6487-2Brown, David (1991), Tchaikovsky: the final years, 1885-1893, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., ISBN 978-0-393-33757-0Fisher, Jennifer (2003), Nutcracker Nation: how an Old World ballet became a Christmas tradition in the New World, New Haven and New York: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10599-1Fisher, Jennifer (2007), "The Nutcracker: a cultural icon", in Kant, Marion (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ballet, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-53986-9Hurley, Thérèse (2007), "Opening the door to fairy-tale world: Tchaikovsky's ballet music", in Kant, Marion (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ballet, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Pr...Tchaikovsky, Modeste (1906), The Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, London: John LaneWarrack, John (1966), Swan Lake: Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake": true drama in dance form)(VHS (070 201-3) liner notes ed.), New York: Philips/PolyGram RecordsWyatt, Edward (November 26, 2007), "Classic, flashy, naughty: which Nutcracker works for you?", New York Times, New YorkSep 23, 2024 · The first performance, on 19th December 1892 met with mixed reviews. Some criticised the dancing of Antonietta Dell’Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, one critic even calling her ‘corpulent’ and ‘podgy’. Elsewhere the choreography, especially in the battle scene, was considered confusing.
Dec 6, 2018 · The first U.S. performance of The Nutcracker was by the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1944. Directed by William Christensen and choreographed by George Balanchine. By changing a few characters, Balanchine was able to give The Nutcracker new life.
