Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик), Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a ballet-féerie; Russian: балет-феерия, tr. balet-feyeriya) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination. The plot is an adaptation 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 as successful as had been the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, The Nutcracker soon became popular.

🇷🇺 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a (1892)

00:00 I. Ouverture miniature: Allegro giusto (B-flat major)
II. Danses caractéristiques
03:18 a. Marche. Tempo di marcia viva (G major)
05:35 b. Danse de la Fée Dragée. Andante non troppo (E minor)
07:30 c. Danse russe. Trépak. Tempo di trépak, molto vivace (G major)
08:34 d. Danse arabe. Allegro (G minor)
11:57 e. Danse chinoise. Allegro moderato (B-flat major)
13:13 f. Danse des mirlitons. Allegro (D major)
15:44 III. Valse des fleurs. Tempo di valse (D major)

The Suite from the ballet The Nutcracker was compiled as a substitute for the symphonic ballad The Voyevoda on the programme of a Russian Musical Society concert in Saint Petersburg scheduled for 29 February/12 March 1892, at which Tchaikovsky was due to conduct his own works. Having destroyed the score of the ballad The Voyevoda following its premiere in November 1891, Tchaikovsky suggested replacing a suite of numbers from his new ballet The Nutcracker, which he was preparing to orchestrate.

The earliest lists of numbers for the Suite also contained Chocolate (Spanish Dance) and Final Waltz. The second movement — Danses caractéristiques — was to be called In the Kingdom of Sweets and Toys (В царстве лакомств и игруншек). The Danse des mirlitons was originally Reed Pipes (Свирелки), and the Danse de la Fée Dragée was to have been The Sweet Fairy (Фея конфект).

Tchaikovsky had begun orchestrating the numbers in the Suite by 28 January/9 February 1892. By 31 January/12 February 1892 the first number of the Suite was ready. According to the author's note on the manuscript score, the orchestration was completed on 8/20 February, at Maydanovo.

Performers:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan