PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY                     1840 - 1893

'Nutcracker' Suite  Op. 71a

Ouverture Miniature

Danses Caractéristiques

            a)             Marche

            b)            Danse de la Fée-Dragée

            c)            Danse Russe Trepak

            d)            Danse Arabe

            e)            Danse Chinoise

            f)            Danse des Mirlitons

Valse des Fleurs

The Nutcracker was Tchaikovsky’s third and last ballet, completed in 1892. From the full score the composer unerringly chose the best music to make up this orchestral suite, which proved to be an immediate success.

The plot of the ballet centres round a children’s party at which toys are distributed, when little Clara is given an old-fashioned German nutcracker made in the shape of a man who breaks the nuts in his enormous jaws. In the middle of the night Clara tiptoes downstairs to find that strange things are going on; the room has become overrun with mice which the toys, now come to life, are trying to keep at bay. The climax of the battle is a duel between the King of the Mice and the Nutcracker, during which the Nutcracker is scared away by Clara throwing her slipper at the Mouse King.

The Nutcracker is transformed into a handsome prince and invites Clara to Confituremberg, the capital of the kingdom of Sweetland. There the Sugar Plum is Queen and in honour of Clara a divertissement is performed in which Chinese, Arabian and Spanish dancers represent tea, coffee and chocolate respectively. There are other characteristic dances and the entertainment ends with a waltz of the flowers.

The music speaks for itself, but two points are worth noting:- the absence of cellos and double basses in the overture, and the fact that the celesta was at the time brand new when it appeared in the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Tchaikovsky had the instrument especially imported from France and evidently was delighted with the result.