Incubator escapee wiki

The Nutcracker

Article Discussion

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Redirect Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Italic title Template:Tchaikovsky stage works

The Nutcracker (Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; Template:Langx) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. The plot is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's 1844 short story The Nutcracker, itself a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballet's first choreographer was Marius Petipa, with whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beauty, assisted by Lev Ivanov. Although the complete and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not initially as successful as the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, it became popular in later years.

Since the late 1960s, The Nutcracker has been danced by many ballet companies, especially in North America.<ref name="fisher">Template:Cite book</ref> Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of the ballet.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Its score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story.

Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (1891).

CompositionEdit

After the success of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the director of the Imperial Theatres, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill program featuring both an opera and a ballet. The opera would be Iolanta. For the ballet, Tchaikovsky would again join forces with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on The Sleeping Beauty. The material Vsevolozhsky chose was an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", by Alexandre Dumas called "The Story of a Nutcracker".<ref name="anderson">Anderson, J. (1958). The Nutcracker Ballet, New York: Mayflower Books.</ref> The plot of Hoffmann's story (and Dumas's adaptation) was greatly simplified for the two-act ballet. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot titled "The Tale of the Hard Nut", which explains how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. This had to be excised for the ballet.<ref name="penghoff">Hoffmann, E. T. A., Dumas, A., Neugroschel, J. (2007). Nutcracker and Mouse King, and the Tale of the Nutcracker, New York</ref>

Petipa gave Tchaikovsky extremely detailed instructions for the composition of each number, down to the tempo and number of bars.<ref name="anderson" /> The completion of the work was interrupted for a short time when Tchaikovsky visited the United States for twenty-five days to conduct concerts for the opening of Carnegie Hall.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Tchaikovsky composed parts of The Nutcracker in Rouen, France.<ref name="mel">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

Saint Petersburg premiereEdit

File:Nutcracker -1890.JPG
(Left to right) Lydia Rubtsova as Marianna, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara and Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz, in the original production of The Nutcracker (Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, 1892)
File:Nutcracker1892.jpg
Varvara Nikitina as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Pavel Gerdt as the Cavalier, in a later performance in the original run of The Nutcracker, 1892

The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky's last opera, Iolanta, on Template:OldStyleDate, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.<ref name="history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Although the libretto was by Marius Petipa, who exactly choreographed the first production has been debated. Petipa began work on the choreography in August 1892; however, illness removed him from its completion and his assistant of seven years, Lev Ivanov, was brought in. Although Ivanov is often credited as the choreographer, some contemporary accounts credit Petipa. The performance was conducted by Italian composer Riccardo Drigo, with Antonietta Dell'Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as Prince Coqueluche, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince, and Timofey Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer. Unlike in many later productions, the children's roles were performed by real children – students of the Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg, with Belinskaya as Clara, and Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz – rather than adults.

The first performance of The Nutcracker was not deemed a success.<ref name="balletmet1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. Although some critics praised Dell'Era on her pointework as the Sugar Plum Fairy (she allegedly received five curtain-calls), one critic called her "corpulent" and "podgy". Olga Preobrajenskaya as the Columbine doll was panned by one critic as "completely insipid" and praised as "charming" by another.<ref name=fisher15>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Alexandre Benois described the choreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One can not understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards – quite amateurish."<ref name=fisher15/>

The libretto was criticized as "lopsided"<ref name=fisher16>Template:Harvnb</ref> and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet,Template:Sfn and many bemoaned the fact that the ballerina did not dance until the Grand Pas de Deux near the end of the second act (which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program).<ref name=fisher16 /> Some found the transition between the mundane world of the first scene and the fantasy world of the second act too abrupt.<ref name="anderson" /> Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score. Some critics called it "astonishingly rich in detailed inspiration" and "from beginning to end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic".Template:Sfn But this also was not unanimous, as some critics found the party scene "ponderous" and the Grand Pas de Deux "insipid".<ref name="wiley">Template:Cite book</ref>

Subsequent productionsEdit

Template:Main list

File:Olga Preobrajnskaya Legat -Nutcracker 1.JPG
Olga Preobrajenska as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Nikolai Legat as Prince Coqueluche in the Grand pas de deux in the original production of The Nutcracker. Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Template:Circa

In 1919, choreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a production which eliminated the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier and gave their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, who were played by adults instead of children. This was the first production to do so. An abridged version of the ballet was first performed outside Russia in Budapest (Royal Opera House) in 1927, with choreography by Ede Brada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Unreliable source? In 1934, choreographer Vasili Vainonen staged a version of the work that addressed many of the criticisms of the original 1892 production by casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Prince, as Gorsky had. The Vainonen version influenced several later productions.<ref name="anderson" />

The first complete performance outside Russia took place in England in 1934,<ref name="balletmet1"/> staged by Nicholas Sergeyev after Petipa's original choreography. Annual performances of the ballet have been staged there since 1952.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Another abridged version of the ballet, performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was staged in New York City in 1940,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Alexandra Fedorova – again, after Petipa's version.<ref name="balletmet1"/> The ballet's first complete United States performance was on 24 December 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet, staged by its artistic director, Willam Christensen, and starring Gisella Caccialanza as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jocelyn Vollmar as the Snow Queen.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="balletmet1"/> After the enormous success of this production, San Francisco Ballet has presented Nutcracker every Christmas Eve and throughout the winter season, debuting new productions in 1944, 1954, 1967, and 2004. The original Christensen version continues in Salt Lake City, where Christensen relocated in 1948. It has been performed every year since 1963 by the Christensen-founded Ballet West.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The New York City Ballet gave its first annual performance of George Balanchine's reworked staging of The Nutcracker in 1954.<ref name="balletmet1"/> The performance of Maria Tallchief in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy helped elevate the work from obscurity into an annual Christmas classic and the industry's most reliable box-office draw. Critic Walter Terry remarked that "Maria Tallchief, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, is herself a creature of magic, dancing the seemingly impossible with effortless beauty of movement, electrifying us with her brilliance, enchanting us with her radiance of being. Does she have any equals anywhere, inside or outside of fairyland? While watching her in The Nutcracker, one is tempted to doubt it."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Since Gorsky, Vainonen and Balanchine's productions, many other choreographers have made their own versions. Some institute the changes made by Gorsky and Vainonen while others, like Balanchine, utilize the original libretto. Some notable productions include Rudolf Nureyev's 1963 production for the Royal Ballet, Yury Grigorovich for the Bolshoi Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov for the American Ballet Theatre, Fernand Nault for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens starting in 1964, Kent Stowell for Pacific Northwest Ballet starting in 1983, and Peter Wright for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In recent years, revisionist productions, including those by Mark Morris, Matthew Bourne, and Mikhail Chemiakin have appeared; these depart radically from both the original 1892 libretto and Vainonen's revival, while Maurice Béjart's version completely discards the original plot and characters. In addition to annual live stagings of the work, many productions have also been televised or released on home video.<ref name="fisher" />

RolesEdit

The following extrapolation of the characters (in order of appearance) is drawn from an examination of the stage directions in the score.<ref>Soviet ed., where they are printed in the original French with added Russian translation in editorial footnotes</ref>

Act IEdit

Template:Columns-list

Act IIEdit

File:Vzevolozhsky's costume sketch for Nutcracker.jpg
Ivan Vsevolozhsky's original costume sketch for The Nutcracker (1892)

Template:Columns-list

Plot Template:AnchorEdit

Below is a synopsis based on the original 1892 libretto by Marius Petipa. The story varies from production to production, though most follow the basic outline. The names of the characters also vary. In the original Hoffmann story, the young heroine is called Marie Stahlbaum and Clara (Klärchen) is her doll's name. In the adaptation by Dumas on which Petipa based his libretto, her name is Marie Silberhaus.<ref name="penghoff" /> In still other productions, such as Balanchine's, Clara is Marie Stahlbaum rather than Clara Silberhaus.

Act IEdit

Scene 1: The Stahlbaum Home

File:Nutcracker design (cropped).jpg
Konstantin Ivanov's original sketch for the set of The Nutcracker (1892)

In Nuremberg, Germany on Christmas Eve in the 1820s, a family and their friends gather in the parlor to decorate the Christmas tree in preparation for the party. Once the tree is finished, the children are summoned.

When the party begins,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> presents are given out to the children. When the owl-topped grandfather clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer—a councilman, magician, and Clara's godfather. He is also a talented toymaker who has brought with him gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to the delight of all.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He then has them put away for safekeeping.

Clara and her brother Fritz are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden nutcracker doll, which the other children ignore. Clara immediately takes a liking to it, but Fritz accidentally breaks it. Clara is heartbroken, but Drosselmeyer fixes the nutcracker, much to everyone's relief.

During the night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor to check on the nutcracker. As she reaches the small bed, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see Drosselmeyer perched atop it. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights. The nutcracker also grows to life size. Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and the mice, led by their king.

The nutcracker appears to lead the gingerbread men, who are joined by tin soldiers, and by dolls who serve as doctors to carry away the wounded. As the seven-headed Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Scene 2: A Pine Forest

The mice retreat and the nutcracker is transformed into a human prince.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which the snowflakes dance around them, beckoning them on to his kingdom as the first act ends.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Act IIEdit

The Land of Sweets

File:Vsevolozhskys design for Nutcracker.jpg
Ivan Vsevolozhsky's original costume designs for Mother Gigogne and her Polichinelle children, 1892

Clara and the Prince travel to the beautiful Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return. He recounts for her how he had been saved from the Mouse King by Clara and transformed back into himself. In honor of the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> tea from China,<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> and candy canes from Russia<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> all dance for their amusement; Marzipan shepherdesses perform on their flutes;<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> Mother Ginger has her children, the Polichinelles, emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance; a string of beautiful flowers performs a waltz.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a dance.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Clara and the Prince down from their throne. He bows to her, she kisses Clara goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer-drawn sleigh. It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back.

In the original libretto, the ballet's apotheosis "represents a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches".Template:Sfn Just like Swan Lake, there have been various alternative endings created in productions subsequent to the original.

Musical sources and influencesEdit

The Nutcracker is one of the composer's most popular compositions. The music belongs to the Romantic period and contains some of his most memorable melodies, several of which are frequently used in television and film. (They are often heard in TV commercials shown during the Christmas season.<ref name="Schwarm">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>)

Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend who wagered that the composer could not write a melody based on a one-octave scale in sequence. Tchaikovsky asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or descending order and was assured it did not. This resulted in the Adagio from the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, which, in the ballet, nearly always immediately follows the "Waltz of the Flowers". A story is also told that Tchaikovsky's sister Alexandra (9 January 1842 — 9 April 1891<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) had died shortly before he began composition of the ballet and that his sister's death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, it is more naturally perceived as a dreams-come-true theme because of another celebrated scale use, the ascending one in the Barcarolle from The Seasons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{#invoke:Listen|main}}

Tchaikovsky was less satisfied with The Nutcracker than with The Sleeping Beauty. (In the film Fantasia, commentator Deems Taylor observes that he "really detested" the score.) Tchaikovsky accepted the commission from Vsevolozhsky but did not particularly want to write the ballet<ref>Tchaikovsky By David Brown W. W. Norton & Company, 1992 page 332</ref> (though he did write to a friend while composing it, "I am daily becoming more and more attuned to my task").<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

InstrumentationEdit

The music is written for an orchestra with the following instrumentation.

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-4 Woodwinds

3 flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling on piccolo)
2 oboes
1 cor anglais
2 clarinets in [[soprano clarinet|BTemplate:Music]] and A
1 bass clarinet in BTemplate:Music
2 bassoons

Brass

4 French horns in F
2 trumpets in A and BTemplate:Music
2 tenor trombones
1 bass trombone
1 tuba

Template:Col-4

Percussion

Timpani
Snare drum
Cymbals
Bass drum
Triangle
Tambourine
Castanets
Tam-tam
Glockenspiel
Template:Hanging indent

Template:Col-4

Keyboard

Celesta

Voice

Soprano and alto chorus

Strings

2 harps
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Violoncello
Double bass

Template:Col-end

Musical scenesEdit

From the Imperial Ballet's 1892 programEdit

Titles of all of the numbers listed here come from Marius Petipa's original scenario as well as the original libretto and programs of the first production of 1892. All libretti and programs of works performed on the stages of the Imperial Theatres were titled in French, which was the official language of the Imperial Court, as well as the language from which balletic terminology is derived.

Casse-Noisette. Ballet-féerie in two acts and three tableaux with apotheosis. Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Act I

  1. Petite ouverture
  2. Scène: Une fête de Noël
  3. Marche et petit galop des enfants
  4. Danse des incroyables et merveilleuses
  5. Entrée de Drosselmeyer
  6. Danses des poupées mécaniques—Template:Ordered list
  8. Le Casse-Noisette—Polka et la berceuse
  9. Danse "Großvater"
  10. Grand scène fantastique: la métamorphose du salon
  11. La bataille de Casse-Noisette et du Roi des souris
  12. Le voyage
  13. Valse des flocons de neige

Template:Col-2 Act II

  2. Template:Ordered list

Grand divertissement—Template:Block indent

  2. Pas de deux—Template:Ordered list
  3. Coda générale
  4. Apothéose: Une ruche

Template:Col-end

StructureEdit

List of acts, scenes (tableaux) and musical numbers, along with tempo indications. Numbers are given according to the original Russian and French titles of the first edition score (1892), the piano reduction score by Sergei Taneyev (1892), both published by P. Jurgenson in Moscow, and the Soviet collected edition of the composer's works, as reprinted Melville, New York: Belwin Mills [n.d.]<ref name="score">Tchaikovsky, P. (2004). The Nutcracker: Complete Score, Dover Publications.</ref>

Scene No. English title French title Russian title Tempo indication Notes Listen
Act I
Miniature Overture Ouverture miniature Увертюра Allegro giusto
Tableau I 1 Scene (The Christmas Tree) Scène (L'arbre de Noël) Сцена (Сцена украшения и зажигания ёлки) Allegro non troppo – Più moderato – Allegro vivace scene of decorating and lighting the Christmas tree
2 March (also March of the Toy Soldiers) Marche Марш Tempo di marcia viva
3 Children's Gallop and Dance of the Parents Petit galop des enfants et Entrée des parents Детский галоп и вход (танец) родителей Presto – Andante – Allegro
4 Dance Scene (Arrival of Drosselmeyer) Scène dansante Сцена с танцами Andantino – Allegro vivo – Andantino sostenuto – Più andante – Allegro molto vivace – Tempo di Valse – Presto Drosselmeyer's arrival and distribution of presents
5 Scene and Grandfather Waltz Scène et danse du Gross-Vater Сцена и танец Гросфатер Andante – Andantino – Moderato assai – Andante – L'istesso tempo – Tempo di Gross-Vater – Allegro vivacissimo
6 Scene (Clara and the Nutcracker) Scène Сцена Allegro semplice – Moderato con moto – Allegro giusto – Più allegro – Moderato assai departure of the guests
7 Scene (The Battle) Scène Сцена Allegro vivo
Tableau II 8 Scene (A Pine Forest in Winter) Scène Сцена Andante a.k.a. "Journey through the Snow"
9 Waltz of the Snowflakes Valse des flocons de neige Вальс снежных хлопьев Tempo di Valse, ma con moto – Presto
Act II
Tableau III 10 Scene (The Magic Castle in the Land of Sweets) Scène Сцена Andante introduction
11 Scene (Clara and Nutcracker Prince) Scène Сцена Andante con moto – Moderato – Allegro agitato – Poco più allegro – Tempo precedente arrival of Clara and the Prince
12 Divertissement Divertissement Дивертисмент
a. Chocolate (Spanish Dance) a. Le chocolat (Danse espagnole) a. Шоколад (Испанский танец) Allegro brillante
b. Coffee (Arabian Dance) b. Le café (Danse arabe) b. Кофе (Арабский танец) Commodo
c. Tea (Chinese Dance) c. Le thé (Danse chinoise) c. Чай (Китайский танец) Allegro moderato
d. Trepak (Russian Dance) d. Trépak (Danse russe) d. Трепак (русский танец, карамельная трость)<ref name="sugar"/> Tempo di Trepak, Presto
e. Dance of the Reed Flutes e. Les Mirlitons (Danse des Mirlitons) citation CitationClass=web

}}

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
 CitationClass=web

}}

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
 CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Andantino
f. Mother Ginger and the Polichinelles f. La mère Gigogne et les polichinelles f. Полишинели Allegro giocoso – Andante – Allegro vivo
13 Waltz of the Flowers Valse des fleurs Вальс цветов Tempo di Valse File:P.I. Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers Performed by The U.S. Army Band, c. 2019.mp3
14 Pas de Deux Pas de deux Па-де-дё
a. Intrada (Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier) a. La Fée-Dragée et le Prince Orgeat a. Танец принца Оршада и Феи Драже Andante maestoso
b. Variation I: Tarantella b. Variation I: Tarantelle (Pour le danseur) b. Вариация I: Тарантелла Tempo di Tarantella
c. Variation II: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy c. Variation II: Danse de la Fée-Dragée (Pour la danseuse) c. Вариация II: Танец Феи Драже Andante ma non troppo – Presto
d. Coda d. Coda d. Кода Vivace assai
15 Final Waltz and Apotheosis Valse finale et Apothéose Финальный вальс и Апофеоз Tempo di Valse – Molto meno

Concert excerpts and arrangementsEdit

Template:Anchor

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71aEdit

File:Чайковский Танец Феи Драже и Трепак из балета Щелкунчик.webm
Excerpt of concert performance of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "Trepak" by the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Template:Ill

Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Musical Society.<ref>Alexander Poznansky, Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man, p. 544</ref> The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number encored at its premiere,<ref>Brown, David. Tchaikovsky: The Final Years, 1885-1893. London, 1991; corrected edition 1992: p. 386</ref> while the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The suite became very popular on the concert stage, and was excerpted in Disney's Fantasia, omitting the two movements prior to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the Nutcracker Suite made by the composer:

Template:Ordered list

Grainger: Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz, for solo pianoEdit

The Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz is a successful piano arrangement from one of the movements from The Nutcracker by the pianist and composer Percy Grainger.

Pletnev: Concert suite from The Nutcracker, for solo pianoEdit

The pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev adapted some of the music into a virtuosic concert suite for piano solo:

Template:Ordered list

Contemporary arrangementsEdit

  • In 1942, Freddy Martin and his orchestra recorded The Nutcracker Suite for Dance Orchestra on a set of 4 10-inch 78-RPM records issued by RCA Victor. An arrangement of the suite that lay between dance music and jazz.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • In 1947, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians recorded "The Nutcracker Suite" on a two-part Decca Records 12-inch 78 RPM record with one part on each side as Decca DU 90022,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> packaged in a picture sleeve. This version had custom lyrics written for Waring's chorus by, among others, Waring himself. The arrangements were by Harry Simeone.

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Brown rerecorded the arrangement in stereo for his 1958 Capitol Records album Concert Modern.

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1999, this suite was supplemented with additional arrangements from the score by David Berger for The Harlem Nutcracker, a production of the ballet by choreographer Donald Byrd (born 1949) set during the Harlem Renaissance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • In 1960, Shorty Rogers released The Swingin' Nutcracker, featuring jazz interpretations of pieces from Tchaikovsky's score.
  • In 1962, American poet and humorist Ogden Nash wrote verses inspired by the ballet,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and these verses have sometimes been performed in concert versions of the Nutcracker Suite. It has been recorded with Peter Ustinov reciting the verses, and the music is unchanged from the original.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> While his ballets remain classically rooted, he has contemporarized them with changes such as making Marie an adult instead of a child, or having Drosselmeir emerges through the clock face during the overture making "him more humorous and mischievous."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Caniparoli has been influenced by his simultaneous career as a dancer, having joined San Francisco Ballet in 1971 and performing as Drosselmeir and other various Nutcracker roles ever since that time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

  • The Disco Biscuits, a trance-fusion jam band from Philadelphia, have performed "Waltz of the Flowers" and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on multiple occasions.
  • The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ) recorded the Suite arranged for four acoustic guitars on their CD recording Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker (1992, Delos).
  • In 1993, guitarist Tim Sparks recorded his arrangements for acoustic guitar on The Nutcracker Suite.
  • The Shirim Klezmer Orchestra released a klezmer version, titled "Klezmer Nutcracker", in 1998 on the Newport label. The album became the basis for a December 2008 production by Ellen Kushner, titled The Klezmer Nutcracker and staged off-Broadway in New York City.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • In 2002, The Constructus Corporation used the melody of Sugar Plum Fairy for their track "Choose Your Own Adventure".
  • In 2009, Pet Shop Boys used a melody from "March" for their track "All Over the World", taken from their album Yes.
  • In 2012, jazz pianist Eyran Katsenelenbogen released his renditions of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Dance of the Reed Flutes, Russian Dance and Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite.
  • In 2014, Pentatonix released an a cappella arrangement of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on the holiday album That's Christmas to Me and received a Grammy Award on 16 February 2016 for best arrangement.
  • In 2016, Jennifer Thomas included an instrumental version of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on her album Winter Symphony.
  • In 2017, Lindsey Stirling released her version of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on her holiday album Warmer in the Winter.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • In 2018, Pentatonix released an a cappella arrangement of "Waltz of the Flowers" on the holiday album Christmas Is Here!.
  • In 2019, Madonna sampled a portion on her song "Dark Ballet" from her Madame X album.<ref name=rg2019>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • In 2019, Mariah Carey released a normal and an a cappella version of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" entitled the "Sugar Plum Fairy Introlude" to open and close her 25th Deluxe Anniversary Edition of Merry Christmas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • In 2020, Coone made a hardstyle cover version titled "The Nutcracker".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Selected discographyEdit

The Nutcracker made its initial appearance on disc in 1909 in an abridged performance on the Odeon label. Historically, this 4-disc set is considered to be the first record album.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The recording was conducted by Herman Finck and featured the London Palace Orchestra.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was not until after the modern LP record appeared in 1948 that recordings of the complete ballet began to be made. Because of the ballet's approximate ninety minute length when performed without intermission, applause, or interpolated numbers, the music requires two LPs. Most CD issues of the music take up two discs, often with fillers. An exception is the 81-minute 1998 Philips recording by Valery Gergiev that fits onto one CD because of Gergiev's somewhat brisker tempi.

  • In 1954, the first complete recording of the ballet was released on two LPs by Mercury Records. The cover design was by George Maas with illustrations by Dorothy Maas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The music was performed by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Antal Doráti. Doráti later re-recorded the complete ballet in stereo, with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1962 for Mercury and with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1975 for Philips Classics. According to Mercury Records, the 1962 recording was made on 35mm magnetic film rather than audio tape, and used album cover art identical to that of the 1954 recording.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Doráti is the only conductor so far to have made three different recordings of the complete ballet. Some critics have cited the 1975 recording as the finest ever made of the complete ballet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is also faithful to the score in employing a boys' choir in the Waltz of the Snowflakes. Many other recordings use an adult or mixed choir.

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

With the advent of the stereo LP coinciding with the growing popularity of the complete ballet, many other complete recordings have been made. Notable conductors who have done so include Maurice Abravanel, André Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mariss Jansons, Seiji Ozawa, Richard Bonynge, Semyon Bychkov, Alexander Vedernikov, Ondrej Lenard, Mikhail Pletnev, and Simon Rattle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

There have been two major theatrical film versions of the ballet, and both have corresponding soundtrack albums.

  • The first theatrical film adaptation, made in 1985, is of the Pacific Northwest Ballet version, and was conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. The music is played in this production by the London Symphony Orchestra. The film was directed by Carroll Ballard, who had never before directed a ballet film (and has not done so since). Patricia Barker played Clara in the fantasy sequences, and Vanessa Sharp played her in the Christmas party scene. Wade Walthall was the Nutcracker Prince.
  • The second film adaptation was a 1993 film of the New York City Ballet version, titled George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, with David Zinman conducting the New York City Ballet Orchestra. The director was Emile Ardolino, who had won the Emmy, Obie, and Academy Awards for filming dance, and was to die of AIDS later that year. Principal dancers included the Balanchine muse Darci Kistler, who played the Sugar Plum Fairy, Heather Watts, Damian Woetzel, and Kyra Nichols. Two well-known actors also took part: Macaulay Culkin appeared as the Nutcracker/Prince, and Kevin Kline served as the offscreen narrator. The soundtrack features the interpolated number from The Sleeping Beauty that Balanchine used in the production, and the music is heard on the album in the order that it appears in the film, not in the order that it appears in the original ballet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> the currently available edition is abridged.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ormandy, Reiner and Fiedler never recorded a complete version of the ballet; however, Kunzel's album of excerpts runs 73 minutes, containing more than two-thirds of the music. Conductor Neeme Järvi has recorded act 2 of the ballet complete, along with excerpts from Swan Lake. The music is played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ethnic stereotypes and cultural misattributionEdit

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }}

In the United States, commentary emerged in the 2010s about the Chinese and Arabian characteristic dances. In a 2014 article titled "Sorry, 'The Nutcracker' Is Racist", writer Alice Robb panned the typical choreography of the Chinese dance as white people wearing "harem pants and a straw hat, eyes painted to look slanted" and "wearing chopsticks in their black wigs"; the Arabian dance, she said, has a woman who "slinks around the stage in a belly shirt, bells attached to her ankles".<ref name=Robb/> Similarly, dance professor Jennifer Fisher at the University of California, Irvine, complained in 2018 about the use in the Chinese dance of "bobbing, subservient 'kowtow' steps, Fu Manchu mustaches, and, especially, the often-used saffron-tinged makeup, widely known as 'yellowface.'"<ref name=Fisher /> In 2013, Dance Magazine printed the opinions of three directors: Ronald Alexander of Steps on Broadway and The Harlem School of the Arts said the characters in some of the dances were "borderline caricatures, if not downright demeaning", and that some productions had made changes to improve this; Stoner Winslett of the Richmond Ballet said The Nutcracker was not racist and that her productions had a "diverse cast"; and Donald Byrd of Spectrum Dance Theater saw the ballet as Eurocentric and not racist.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some people who have performed in productions of the ballet do not see a problem because they are continuing what is viewed as "a tradition".<ref name=Robb>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to George Balanchine, the Arabian dance was a sensuous belly dance intended for the fathers, not the children.<ref name=Dunning>Template:Cite news</ref>

Among the attempts to change the dances in the United States were Austin McCormick making the Arabian dance into a pole dance, and San Francisco Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater changing the Chinese dance to a dragon dance.<ref name=Robb /> Georgina Pazcoguin of the New York City Ballet and former dancer Phil Chan started the "Final Bow for Yellowface" movement and created a web site which explained the history of the practices and suggested changes. One of their points was that only the Chinese dance made dancers look like an ethnic group other than the one they belonged to. The New York City Ballet went on to drop geisha wigs and makeup and change some dance moves. Some other ballet companies followed.<ref name=Fisher>Template:Cite news</ref>

The NutcrackerTemplate:'s "Arabian" dance is in fact an embellished, exotified version of a traditional Georgian lullaby, with no genuine connection to the Arab culture.<ref>Lewis Segal. ‘Nutcracker’ standard has 1,001 versions, Los Angeles Times: 10 December 2006 "...don’t look for its sources in the Middle East. Tchaikovsky took a Georgian lullaby for the Arabian Dance...It’s a Georgian melody, not Arabian..."</ref> Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times defended Tchaikovsky, saying he "never intended his Chinese and Arabian music to be ethnographically correct".<ref name=Macaulay>Template:Cite news</ref> He said, "their extraordinary color and energy are far from condescending, and they make the world of 'The Nutcracker' larger."<ref name=Macaulay/> To change anything is to "unbalance The Nutcracker" with music the author did not write. If there were stereotypes, Tchaikovsky also used them in representing his own country of Russia.<ref name=Macaulay/>

In popular cultureEdit

FilmEdit

Several films having little or nothing to do with the ballet or the original Hoffmann tale have used its music:

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • A 1951 thirty-minute short, Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen features several dances from The Nutcracker.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • The 2022 Russian-Hungarian animated film The Nutcracker and the Magic Flute adapted the story and used the music, while combining them with other classical works.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

TelevisionEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Children's recordingsEdit

There have been several recorded children's adaptations of the E. T. A. Hoffmann story (the basis for the ballet) using Tchaikovsky's music, some quite faithful, some not. One that was not was a version titled The Nutcracker Suite for Children, narrated by Metropolitan Opera announcer Milton Cross, which used a two-piano arrangement of the music. It was released as a 78-RPM album set in the 1940s. A later version, titled The Nutcracker Suite, starred Denise Bryer and a full cast, was released in the 1960s on LP and made use of Tchaikovsky's music in the original orchestral arrangements. It was quite faithful to Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the ballet is based, even to the point of including the section in which Clara cuts her arm on the glass toy cabinet, and also mentioning that she married the Prince at the end. It also included a less gruesome version of "The Tale of the Hard Nut", the tale-within-a-tale in Hoffmann's story. It was released as part of the Tale Spinners for Children series.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Spike Jones produced a 78 rpm record set "Spike Jones presents for the kiddies The Nutcracker Suite (with Apologies to Tchaikovsky)" in 1944. It includes the tracks: "The Little Girl's Dream", "Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "The Fairy Ball", "The Mysterious Room", "Back to the Fairy Ball" and "End of the Little Girl's Dream". This is all done in typical Spike Jones style, with the addition of choruses and some swing music. The entire recording is available at archive.com<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

JournalismEdit

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Sarah Kaufman, dance critic for The Washington Post{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Act I of The Nutcracker ends with snow falling and snowflakes dancing. Yet The Nutcracker is now seasonal entertainment even in parts of America where snow seldom falls: Hawaii, the California coast, Florida. Over the last 70 years this ballet—conceived in the Old World—has become an American institution. Its amalgam of children, parents, toys, a Christmas tree, snow, sweets and Tchaikovsky's astounding score is integral to the season of good will that runs from Thanksgiving to New Year... I am a European who lives in America, and I never saw any Nutcracker until I was 21. Since then I've seen it many times. The importance of this ballet to America has become a phenomenon that surely says as much about this country as it does about this work of art. So this year I'm running a Nutcracker marathon: taking in as many different American productions as I can reasonably manage in November and December, from coast to coast (more than 20, if all goes well). America is a country I'm still discovering; let The Nutcracker be part of my research.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>{{#if:Alastair Macaulay, dance critic for The New York Times|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

  • In 2014, Ellen O'Connell, who trained with the Royal Ballet in London, wrote, in Salon (website), on the darker side of The Nutcracker story. In E. T. A. Hoffmann's original story, the Nutcracker and Mouse King, Marie's (Clara's), journey becomes a fevered delirium that transports her to a land where she sees sparkling Christmas Forests and Marzipan Castles, but in a world populated with dolls.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffmann's tales were so bizarre, Sigmund Freud wrote about them in The Uncanny.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 fairy tale, on which the ballet is based, is troubling: Marie, a young girl, falls in love with a nutcracker doll, whom she only sees come alive when she falls asleep. ...Marie falls, ostensibly in a fevered dream, into a glass cabinet, cutting her arm badly. She hears stories of trickery, deceit, a rodent mother avenging her children's death, and a character who must never fall asleep (but of course does, with disastrous consequences). While she heals from her wound, the mouse king brainwashes her in her sleep. Her family forbids her from speaking of her "dreams" anymore, but when she vows to love even an ugly nutcracker, he comes alive and she marries him. {{#if:Ellen O'Connell-Whittet, Lecturer, University of California, Santa Barbara Writing Program|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Popular musicEdit

  • The song "Dance Mystique" (track B1) on the studio album Bach to the Blues (1964) by the Ramsey Lewis Trio is a jazz adaptation of Coffee (Arabian Dance).
  • The song "Fall Out" by English band Mansun from their 1998 album Six heavily relies on the celesta theme from the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
  • The song "Dark Ballet" by American singer-songwriter Madonna samples the melody of Dance of the Reed Flutes (Danish Marzipan) which is often mistaken for Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The song also relied on the lesser-known harp cadenza from Waltz of the Flowers. The same Tchaikovsky sample was earlier used in internationally famous 1992 ads for Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut with 'Madonna' as the singing chocolate bar (in Russian version the subtitles "'This Is Madonna'" (Template:Langx) were displayed on a screen).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Video gamesEdit

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

Template:Notelist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:Ballets of Marius Petipa Template:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Template:The Nutcracker Template:Disney's Fantasia Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Nutcracker&oldid=185079"