2. The Nutcracker Suite, Op 71a - Tchaikovsky
I. Miniature Overture
0:00
II. Danses caractéristiques
--a. Marche
3:29
--b. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy
5:59
--c. Russian Dance (Trepak)
7:47
--d. Arabian Dance
8:58
--e. Chinese Dance
12:04
--f. Reed-Flutes
13:05
III. Waltz of the Flowers
15:15
The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик
[a],
tr. Shchelkunchik listen (
help·
info)) is an 1892 two-act
ballet ("
fairy ballet"; Russian: балет-феерия,
balet-feyeriya), originally choreographed by
Marius Petipa and
Lev Ivanov with a score by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Op. 71). The
libretto is adapted from
E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King".
Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute
suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. The complete
Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America.
[1] Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker.
[2][3] The ballet's 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 that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known
symphonic ballad The Voyevoda.