Nutcracker Notes

Nov. 20, 2015

E.T.A. Hoffman’s original tale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” showed humanity’s dark-sided nature and was not appropriate for children.

In 1892, Tchaikovsky finished composing the music for “The Nutcracker”. Afterwards, he wrote that he felt “The Nutcracker’s” music was “infinitely poorer” than “Sleeping Beauty’s”, which he finished two years prior.

“The Nutcracker’s” full-length production first appeared in the U.S. in 1944, by the San Francisco Opera Ballet. The setting of The Nutcracker is in Western Europe in the 1800s. The story opens at the home of Hans Stahlbaum, the town mayor.

“The Nutcracker” ballet marked the first use of the celesta in an orchestral score. The celesta produces sounds much like bells. It was a new instrument Tchaikovsky had discovered in Paris. He wanted it for the character of the sugar plum fairy to characterize her “heavenly sweet sound.”

Tchaikovsky’s sister died shortly before he began composition of the ballet, and his sister’s death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux.

In 1960, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn composed jazz interpretations of pieces from Tchaikovsky’s score.

In 2009, Pet Shop Boys used a melody from the “Nutcracker Suite” for their track “All Over the World.”