The Nutcracker
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- Internet Archive – “The Nutcracker Ballet”
- Humanities LibreTexts Library – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – “The Nutcracker”
- AllMusic – Nutcracker, Ballet, Op. 71
- Wilson Center – How The Nutcracker Gave Birth to American Ballet
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- Internet Archive – “The Nutcracker Ballet”
- Humanities LibreTexts Library – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – “The Nutcracker”
- AllMusic – Nutcracker, Ballet, Op. 71
- Wilson Center – How The Nutcracker Gave Birth to American Ballet
Also known as: “Shchelkunchik”
Written by
Betsy Schwarm
Betsy Schwarm is a music historian based in Colorado. She serves on the music faculty of Metropolitan State University of Denver and gives pre-performance talks for Opera Colorado and the Colorado Symphony.
Betsy Schwarm
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica’s editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
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Last Updated: Oct 20, 2023 • Article History
Table of Contents
Category: Arts & Culture
Russian: Shchelkunchik . (Show more)
The Nutcracker, ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The last of his three ballets, it was first performed in December 1892.
The story of The Nutcracker is loosely based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King. Hoffmann’s story is darker and more troubling than the version that reached the stage; the Imperial Russian Ballet choreographer Marius Petipa chose to follow a light adaptation of the story written by Alexandre Dumas père.
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Tchaikovsky began work in February 1891, continuing his efforts while on an American tour later that year for the opening of Carnegie Hall. His homeward journey took him through Paris, where he discovered a new instrument: the celesta, whose clear, bell-like tone was perfectly fitted to The Nutcracker’s fairy-tale ambience. In the celesta’s ethereal notes, Tchaikovsky recognized the “voice” of his Sugar Plum Fairy, and he immediately wrote to his publisher, asking that the instrument be acquired for the performance.
Selections from The Nutcracker were first performed as an orchestral suite in March 1892. The ballet proper debuted in December of that year. It was presented at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre on a double bill with Tchaikovsky’s one-act opera, Iolanta. In a letter to a friend, Tchaikovsky himself remarked, “Apparently the opera gave pleasure, but the ballet not really; and, as a matter of fact, in spite of all the sumptuousness it did turn out to be rather boring.” He thought little of it, describing it as “infinitely worse than Sleeping Beauty.” The reference was to the second of his three ballets; the first had been Swan Lake.
Yet responsibility for the failure was not, apparently, wholly the composer’s. Petipa had fallen ill, and the choreography was instead devised by his less-inspired assistant. Additionally, the scenery and costumes were panned as tasteless, and the performance of the ballerina who danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy was widely criticized. The newspapers reviled Tchaikovsky, and he did not live to see the piece succeed. Despite the failure of its initial performance, The Nutcracker has become the most frequently performed of all ballets and has served as an introduction to classical music for many young people. Because the first act is set at a Christmas party, the ballet is often presented at Christmastime.
Christmas – The Nutcracker! Sweet! – A Coordinate Graphing Activity
This was the perfect coordinate graphing activity for my 6th graders to use. It was a little more challenging, but this was great for early finishers who found previous coordinate graphing too easy!
— Diana F.
Rated 5 out of 5
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Celebrate Winter with these 12 festive coordinate graphing activities. Each activity provides a list of coordinate points to connect. The students should connect the points only within the designated zones to create wonderful graphs of Christmas icons.Don’t forget to download a copy of my custom-mad
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Description
Celebrate Winter with this festive coordinate graphing activity. Students are given a list of coordinate points to connect. They should connect the points only within the designated zones. When they are done, they will have a picture of The Nutcracker standing at attention. Sweet!
Don’t forget to download a copy of my custom-made FREE GRAPH PAPER.
Here are some tips:
[1] All points will be on one grid line or another.
[2] A completed picture has been provided to be used as a key.
[3] You can download my custom made FREE GRAPH PAPER from my store.
[4] I have also found that printing graph paper directly from themathworksheetsite.com
helps out, but any graph paper will do.
[5] Remember to copy double-sided when necessary to save paper
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