''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

(""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters and ...

and Lev Ivanov with a score by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic music, Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer Music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose music would make a lasting impressi ...

(Op. 71). The libretto is adapted from

E. T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in E ...

's 1816 short story "

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (german: Nussknacker und Mausekönig) is a story written in 1816 by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeati ...

". Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''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. Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of ''The Nutcracker''. 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 The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...

, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad '' The Voyevoda'' (1891).

Composition

After the success of '' The Sleeping Beauty'' in 1890, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the director of the Imperial Theatres, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill program featuring both an opera and a ballet. The opera would be ''

Iolanta ''Iolanta'', Op. 69, (russian: Иоланта, links=no ) is a lyric opera in one act by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. It was the last opera he composed. The libretto was written by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, and is based on the Danish play ' ...

''. For the ballet, Tchaikovsky would again join forces with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on ''The Sleeping Beauty.'' The material Vsevolozhsky chose was an adaptation of

's story "

", by

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...

called "The Story of a Nutcracker".Anderson, J. (1958). ''The Nutcracker Ballet'', New York: Mayflower Books. The plot of Hoffmann's story (and Dumas' adaptation) was greatly simplified for the two-act ballet. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot titled "The Tale of the Hard Nut", which explains how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. This had to be excised for the ballet.Hoffmann, E. T. A., Dumas, A., Neugroschel, J. (2007). ''Nutcracker and Mouse King, and the Tale of the Nutcracker'', New York Petipa gave Tchaikovsky extremely detailed instructions for the composition of each number, down to the tempo and number of bars. The completion of the work was interrupted for a short time when Tchaikovsky visited the United States for twenty-five days to conduct concerts for the opening of Carnegie Hall. Tchaikovsky composed parts of ''The Nutcracker'' in Rouen, France.

History

Saint Petersburg premiere

The first performance of ''The Nutcracker'' was not deemed a success. The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. While some critics praised Dell'Era on her pointework as the Sugar Plum Fairy (she allegedly received five curtain-calls), one critic called her "corpulent" and "podgy". Olga Preobrajenskaya as the Columbine doll was panned by one critic as "completely insipid" and praised as "charming" by another. Alexandre Benois described the choreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One can not understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards – quite amateurish." The libretto was criticized as "lopsided" and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet, and many bemoaned the fact that the ballerina did not dance until the '' Grand Pas de Deux'' near the end of the second act (which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program). Some found the transition between the mundane world of the first scene and the fantasy world of the second act too abrupt. Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score. Some critics called it "astonishingly rich in detailed inspiration" and "from beginning to end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic". But this also was not unanimous, as some critics found the party scene "ponderous" and the ''Grand Pas de Deux'' "insipid".

Subsequent productions

In 1919, choreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a production which eliminated the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier and gave their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, who were played by adults instead of children. This was the first production to do so. An abridged version of the ballet was first performed outside Russia in Budapest (Royal Opera House) in 1927, with choreography by Ede Brada. In 1934, choreographer Vasili Vainonen staged a version of the work that addressed many of the criticisms of the original 1892 production by casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Prince, as Gorsky had. The Vainonen version influenced several later productions. The first complete performance outside Russia took place in England in 1934, staged by Nicholas Sergeyev after Petipa's original choreography. Annual performances of the ballet have been staged there since 1952. Another abridged version of the ballet, performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was staged in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in 1940,

Alexandra Fedorova Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

– again, after Petipa's version. The ballet's first complete United States performance was on 24 December 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet, staged by its artistic director, Willam Christensen, and starring Gisella Caccialanza as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jocelyn Vollmar as the Snow Queen. After the enormous success of this production, San Francisco Ballet has presented ''Nutcracker'' every Christmas Eve and throughout the winter season, debuting new productions in 1944, 1954, 1967, and 2004. The original Christensen version continues in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, where Christensen relocated in 1948. It has been performed every year since 1963 by the Christensen-founded

Ballet West Ballet West is an American ballet company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1963 as the Utah Civic Ballet by Willam F. Christensen, the company's first artistic director, and Glenn Walker Wallace, who served as its first president. ...

. The

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

gave its first annual performance of

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

's reworked staging of ''The Nutcracker'' in 1954. The performance of Maria Tallchief in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy helped elevate the work from obscurity into an annual Christmas classic and the industry's most reliable box-office draw. Critic Walter Terry remarked that "Maria Tallchief, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, is herself a creature of magic, dancing the seemingly impossible with effortless beauty of movement, electrifying us with her brilliance, enchanting us with her radiance of being. Does she have any equals anywhere, inside or outside of fairyland? While watching her in ''The Nutcracker,'' one is tempted to doubt it." Since Gorsky, Vainonen and Balanchine's productions, many other choreographers have made their own versions. Some institute the changes made by Gorsky and Vainonen while others, like Balanchine, utilize the original libretto. Some notable productions include

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

's 1963 production for the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, Yury Grigorovich for the Bolshoi Ballet,

Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; lv, Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 28, 1948) is a Soviet Latvian-born Russian-American dancer, choreograp ...

for the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

Fernand Nault Fernand Nault, OC, CQ (27 December 1920 – 26 December 2006) was a Canadian dancer and choreographer. Early life and career He was born Fernand-Noël Boissonneault in Montreal. After he abandoned his original career intent of becoming a p ...

for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens starting in 1964, Kent Stowell for

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dan ...

starting in 1983, and Peter Wright for the

and the

Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the co ...

. In recent years, revisionist productions, including those by Mark Morris,

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...

, and

Mikhail Chemiakin Mihail Mikhailovich Chemiakin (or Shemyakin, russian: Михаил Михайлович Шемякин, born 4 May 1943) is a Russian painter, stage designer, sculptor and publisher, and a controversial representative of the nonconformist ar ...

have appeared; these depart radically from both the original 1892 libretto and Vainonen's revival, while

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast ...

's version completely discards the original plot and characters. In addition to annual live stagings of the work, many productions have also been televised or released on home video.

Roles

The following extrapolation of the characters (in order of appearance) is drawn from an examination of the stage directions in the score.

Act I

Act II

Vzevolozhsky's costume sketch for Nutcracker

Plot

Below is a synopsis based on the original 1892 libretto by Marius Petipa. The story varies from production to production, though most follow the basic outline. The names of the characters also vary. In the original Hoffmann story, the young heroine is called Marie Stahlbaum and Clara (Klärchen) is her

doll A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...

's name. In the adaptation by Dumas on which Petipa based his libretto, her name is Marie Silberhaus. In still other productions, such as Baryshnikov's, Clara is Clara Stahlbaum rather than Clara Silberhaus.

Act I

''Scene 1: The Stahlbaum Home'' Nutcracker design (cropped)

The ballet is set on Christmas Eve, where family and friends have gathered in the parlor to decorate the beautiful Christmas tree in preparation for the party. Once the tree is finished, the children are summoned. They stand in awe of the tree sparkling with candles and decorations. The party begins. A march is played. Presents are given out to the children. Suddenly, as the owl-topped grandfather clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer— a local councilman, magician, and Clara's godfather. He is also a talented toymaker who has brought with him gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to the delight of all. He then has them put away for safekeeping. Clara and her brother Fritz are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden

nutcracker A nutcracker is a tool designed to open nuts by cracking their shells. There are many designs, including levers, screws, and ratchets. The lever version is also used for cracking lobster and crab shells. A decorative version portrays a person w ...

carved in the shape of a little man, which the other children ignore. Clara immediately takes a liking to it, but Fritz accidentally breaks it. Clara is heartbroken, but Drosselmeyer fixes the nutcracker, much to everyone's relief. During the night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor to check on her beloved nutcracker. As she reaches the little bed, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see Drosselmeyer perched atop it. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights. The nutcracker also grows to life size. Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and the mice, led by their king. The mice begin to eat the gingerbread soldiers. The nutcracker appears to lead the soldiers, who are joined by tin soldiers, and by dolls who serve as doctors to carry away the wounded. As the seven-headed Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him. ''Scene 2: A Pine Forest'' The mice retreat and the nutcracker is transformed into a handsome Prince. He leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which the snowflakes dance around them, beckoning them on to his kingdom as the first act ends.

Act II

''Scene 1: The Land of Sweets'' Vsevolozhskys design for Nutcracker

Clara and the Prince travel to the beautiful Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return. He recounts for her how he had been saved from the Mouse King by Clara and transformed back into himself. In honor of the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China, and candy canes from Russia all dance for their amusement; Danish shepherdesses perform on their flutes; Mother Ginger has her children, the Polichinelles, emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance; a string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz. To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a dance. A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Clara and the Prince down from their throne. He bows to her, she kisses Clara goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer-drawn sleigh. It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back. In the original libretto, the ballet's apotheosis "represents a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches". Just like ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'', there have been various alternative endings created in productions subsequent to the original.

Musical sources and influences

''The Nutcracker'' is one of the composer's most popular compositions. The music belongs to the Romantic period and contains some of his most memorable melodies, several of which are frequently used in television and film. (They are often heard in TV commercials shown during the Christmas season.) Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend who wagered that the composer could not write a melody based on a one-octave scale in sequence. Tchaikovsky asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or descending order and was assured it did not. This resulted in the Adagio from the , which, in the ballet, nearly always immediately follows the "Waltz of the Flowers". A story is also told that Tchaikovsky's sister Alexandra (9 January 1842 — 9 April 1891) had died shortly before he began composition of the ballet and that his sister's death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux. However, it is more naturally perceived as a dreams-come-true theme because of another celebrated scale use, the ascending one in the ''Barcarolle'' from '' The Seasons''. Tchaikovsky was less satisfied with ''The Nutcracker'' than with ''The Sleeping Beauty''. (In the film '' Fantasia'', commentator

Deems Taylor Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American music critic, composer, and promoter of classical music. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." Earl ...

observes that he "really detested" the score.) Tchaikovsky accepted the commission from Vsevolozhsky but did not particularly want to write the ballet (though he did write to a friend while composing it, "I am daily becoming more and more attuned to my task").

Instrumentation

The music is written for an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

with the following instrumentation.

Woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

s : 3 flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling on

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...

) : 2

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

s : 1

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an al ...

: 2 clarinets in B and A : 1

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

in B : 2 bassoons

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

: 4

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

s in F : 2

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

s in A and B : 2

tenor trombone A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wi ...

s : 1 bass trombone : 1

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditiona ...

Snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used i ...

: Cymbals :

Bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. T ...

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colli ...

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thou ...

Castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a simi ...

Tam-tam A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

Glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The ...

: Keyboard :

Celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...

Voice : Soprano and alto chorus Strings : 2

harps The High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) is a high-precision echelle planet-finding spectrograph installed in 2002 on the ESO's 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. The first light was achieved in February 2003 ...

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

I's : Violin II's :

Viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

s : Violoncellos :

Double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

Musical scenes

From the Imperial Ballet's 1892 program

Titles of all of the numbers listed here come from Marius Petipa's original scenario as well as the original libretto and programs of the first production of 1892. All libretti and programs of works performed on the stages of the Imperial Theatres were titled in French, which was the official language of the Imperial Court, as well as the language from which balletic terminology is derived. ''Casse-Noisette''. ''Ballet-féerie'' in two acts and three tableaux with apotheosis. Act I # ''Petite ouverture'' # ''Scène: Une fête de Noël'' # ''Marche et petit galop des enfants'' # ''Danse des incroyables et merveilleuses'' # ''Entrée de Drosselmeyer'' # ''Danses des poupées mécaniques—'' #

''Le Casse-Noisette—Polka et la berceuse'' # '' Danse "Großvater"'' # ''Grand scène fantastique: la métamorphose du salon'' # ''La bataille de Casse-Noisette et du Roi des souris'' # ''Le voyage'' # ''Valse des floçons de neige'' Act II #

''Grand divertissement—'' #

''Pas de deux—'' # ''Coda générale'' # ''Apothéose: Une ruche''

Structure

List of acts, scenes (tableaux) and musical numbers, along with tempo indications. Numbers are given according to the original Russian and French titles of the first edition score (1892), the piano reduction score by

Sergei Taneyev Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Тане́ев, ; – ) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author. Life Taneyev was born in Vladimir, Vladimir Governorate, Russi ...

(1892), both published by P. Jurgenson in Moscow, and the Soviet collected edition of the composer's works, as reprinted Melville, New York: Belwin Mills .d.ref name="score">Tchaikovsky, P. (2004). ''The Nutcracker: Complete Score'', Dover Publications.

Concert excerpts and arrangements

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming ''The Nutcracker Suite'', Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number encored at its premiere, while the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the

staging became a hit in New York City. The suite became very popular on the concert stage, and was excerpted in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's '' Fantasia'', omitting the two movements prior to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy . The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the ''Nutcracker Suite'' made by the composer:

Grainger: ''Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz'', for solo piano

The ''Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz'' is a successful piano arrangement from one of the movements from ''The Nutcracker'' by the pianist and composer

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

Pletnev: Concert suite from ''The Nutcracker'', for solo piano

The pianist and conductor

Mikhail Pletnev Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev (russian: Михаи́л Васи́льевич Плетнёв, ''Mikha'il Vas'ilevič Plet'nëv''; born 14 April 1957) is a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Life and career Pletnev was born into a musical fa ...

adapted some of the music into a virtuosic concert suite for piano solo:

Contemporary arrangements

* In 1942, Freddy Martin and his orchestra recorded ''The Nutcracker Suite for Dance Orchestra'' on a set of 4 10-inch 78-RPM records. An arrangement of the suite that lay between dance music and jazz, it was released by RCA Victor. * In 1947,

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...

and His Pennsylvanians recorded "The Nutcracker Suite" on a two-part

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

12-inch 78 RPM record with one part on each side as Decca DU 90022, packaged in a picture sleeve. This version had custom lyrics written for Waring's chorus by among others, Waring himself. The arrangements were by Harry Simeone. * In 1952, the Les Brown big band recorded a version of the ''Nutcracker Suite'', arranged by Frank Comstock, for

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head ...

. Brown rerecorded the arrangement in stereo for his 1958

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

album ''Concert Modern''. * In 1960,

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...

and

Billy Strayhorn William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include " Tak ...

composed

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

interpretations of pieces from Tchaikovsky's score, recorded and released on LP as ''

The Nutcracker Suite ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...

''. In 1999, this suite was supplemented with additional arrangements from the score by David Berger for ''The Harlem Nutcracker'', a production of the ballet by choreographer

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop m ...

(born 1949) set during the Harlem Renaissance. * In 1960,

Shorty Rogers Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arrang ...

released '' The Swingin' Nutcracker'', featuring jazz interpretations of pieces from Tchaikovsky's score. * In 1962, American poet and humorist

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's bes ...

wrote verses inspired by the ballet, and these verses have sometimes been performed in concert versions of the ''Nutcracker Suite''. It has been recorded with

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

reciting the verses, and the music is unchanged from the original. * In 1962 a novelty boogie piano

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

of the "Marche", titled " Nut Rocker", was a No.1 single in the UK, and No.21 in the USA. Credited to B. Bumble and the Stingers, it was produced by

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

and featured studio musicians Al Hazan (piano),

Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of all ...

(drums), Tommy Tedesco (guitar) and Red Callender (bass). "Nut Rocker" has subsequently been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by many others including

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richar ...

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percu ...

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (1 ...

The Brian Setzer Orchestra The Brian Setzer Orchestra (sometimes known by its initials BSO) is a swing and jump blues band formed in 1990 by Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer. In 1998, for their breakout album ''The Dirty Boogie'', the group covered Louis Prima's " Jump ...

, and the

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli (both members of Savatage) and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel ...

. The Ventures' own

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instru ...

cover of "Nut Rocker", known as "Nutty", is commonly connected to the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

team, the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The ...

, from being used as the theme for the Bruins' telecast games for over two decades, from the late 1960s. In 2004, The Invincible Czars arranged, recorded, and now annually perform the entire suite for rock band. * The

's first album, '' Christmas Eve and Other Stories'', includes an instrumental piece titled "A Mad Russian's Christmas", which is a rock version of music from ''The Nutcracker.'' * On the other end of the scale is the comedic

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

version released in December 1945 as "Spike Jones presents for the Kiddies: The Nutcracker Suite (With Apologies to Tchaikovsky)", featuring humorous lyrics by Foster Carling and additional music by Joe "Country" Washburne. An abridged version was released in 1971 as part of the long play record ''Spike Jones is Murdering the Classics'', one of the rare comedic pop records to be issued on the prestigious RCA Red Seal label. * International choreographer Val Caniparoli has created several versions of The Nutcracker ballet for Louisville Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet,

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danish ...

, and Grand Rapids Ballet. While his ballets remain classically rooted, he has contemporarized them with changes such as making Marie an adult instead of a child, or having Drosselmeir emerges through the clock face during the overture making "him more humorous and mischievous." Caniparoli has been influenced by his simultaneous career as a dancer, having joined San Francisco Ballet in 1971 and performing as Drosselmeir and other various Nutcracker roles ever since that time. * The Disco Biscuits, a trance-fusion jam band from Philadelphia, have performed "Waltz of the Flowers" and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on multiple occasions. * The

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ) is an American classical guitar ensemble that was formed in 1980. It consists of John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Matthew Greif (who replaced original member Andrew York at the end of 2006 ...

(LAGQ) recorded the Suite arranged for four acoustic guitars on their CD recording ''Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker'' (1992, Delos). * In 1993, guitarist

Tim Sparks Tim Sparks (born October 31, 1954) is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer. Life Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year. T ...

recorded his arrangements for acoustic guitar on ''

''. * The Shirim Klezmer Orchestra released a

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

version, titled "Klezmer Nutcracker," in 1998 on the Newport label. The album became the basis for a December 2008 production by Ellen Kushner, titled ''The Klezmer Nutcracker'' and staged

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

in New York City. * In 2002,

The Constructus Corporation The Constructus Corporation were a South African electronic music group. Formation of the band Following the breakup of Watkin Tudor Jones' project Max Normal in 2002, Jones moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town and began collaborating with DJ ...

used the melody of ''Sugar Plum Fairy'' for their track "Choose Your Own Adventure". * In 2009,

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...

used a melody from "March" for their track "All Over the World", taken from their album ''Yes''. * In 2012, jazz pianist Eyran Katsenelenbogen released his renditions of ''Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy'', ''Dance of the Reed Flutes'', ''Russian Dance'' and ''Waltz of the Flowers'' from the ''Nutcracker Suite''. * In 2014,

Pentatonix Pentatonix (abbreviated PTX) is an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, currently consisting of vocalists Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee. Characterized by their pop-style arrangem ...

released an a cappella arrangement of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on the holiday album ''

That's Christmas to Me ''That's Christmas to Me'' is the third studio album by a cappella group Pentatonix. It is their sixth release overall and their second holiday release following their 2012 EP '' PTXmas''. It only features previously unreleased material (except " ...

'' and received a Grammy Award on 16 February 2016 for best arrangement. * In 2016, Jennifer Thomas included an instrumental version of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on her album '' Winter Symphony''. * In 2017, Lindsey Stirling released her version of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on her holiday album '' Warmer in the Winter''. * In 2018,

released an a cappella arrangement of "Waltz of the Flowers" on the holiday album '' Christmas Is Here!''. * In 2019, Madonna sampled a portion on her song "Dark Ballet" from her '' Madame X'' album. * In 2019,

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the ...

released a normal and an a cappella version of 'Sugar Plum Fairy' entitled the 'Sugar Plum Fairy Introlude' to open and close her 25th Deluxe Anniversary Edition of

Merry Christmas The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

. * In 2020, Coone made a hardstyle cover version titled "The Nutcracker".

Selected discography

Many recordings have been made since 1909 of the ''Nutcracker Suite'', which made its initial appearance on disc that year in what is now historically considered the first

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

. This recording was conducted by Herman Finck and featured the London Palace Orchestra. But it was not until the LP album was developed that recordings of the complete ballet began to be made. Because of the ballet's approximate hour and a half length when performed without intermission, applause, or interpolated numbers, it fits very comfortably onto two LPs. Most CD recordings take up two discs, often with fillers. An exception is the 81-minute 1998

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

recording by

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company di ...

that fits onto one CD because of Gergiev's somewhat brisker speeds. * In 1954, the first complete recording of the ballet was released, a 2-LP set in mono sound released by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. The cover design was by George Maas with illustrations by Dorothy Maas. The music was performed by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest, where his father Alexander Doráti was a v ...

. Doráti later re-recorded the complete ballet in stereo, with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

in 1962 for Mercury and with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1975 for Philips Classics. According to Mercury Records, the 1962 recording was made on 35mm magnetic film rather than audio tape, and used album

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper (tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ...

identical to that of the 1954 recording. Dorati is the only conductor so far to have made three different recordings of the complete ballet. Some have hailed the 1975 recording as the finest ever made of the complete ballet. It is also faithful to the score in employing a boys' choir in the ''Waltz of the Snowflakes''. Many other recordings use an adult or mixed choir. * In 1956, Artur Rodziński and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

made a complete recording of the ballet in stereo for

Westminster Records Westminster Records was an American classical music record label, issuing original recordings until 1965. It was co–founded in 1949 by Mischa Naida (who later founded Musical Heritage Society), the owner of the Westminster Record Shop in New Y ...

. * In 1959, the first stereo LP album set of the complete ballet, with

Ernest Ansermet Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor. Biography Ansermet ...

conducting the

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. History Er ...

, appeared on

in the UK and

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

in the US. * The first complete stereo ''Nutcracker'' with a Russian conductor and a Russian orchestra appeared in 1960, when

Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (russian: Генна́дий Никола́евич Рожде́ственский; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. Biography Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. H ...

's recording of it, with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, was issued first in the Soviet Union on

Melodiya Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...

, then imported to the U.S. on Columbia Masterworks. It was also Columbia Masterworks' first complete ''Nutcracker''. With the advent of the stereo LP coinciding with the growing popularity of the complete ballet, many other complete recordings of it have been made. Notable conductors who have done so include

Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Ot ...

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieve ...

, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mariss Jansons, Seiji Ozawa,

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performanc ...

, Semyon Bychkov, Alexander Vedernikov, Ondrej Lenard,

, and most recently,

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principa ...

. A CD of excerpts from the Tilson Thomas version had as its album cover art a painting of Mikhail Baryshnikov in his Nutcracker costume; perhaps this was due to the fact that the Tilson Thomas recording was released by CBS Masterworks, and CBS had first telecast the Baryshnikov "Nutcracker". * The soundtrack of the 1977 television production with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland, featuring the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Schermerhorn, was issued in

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

on a CBS Masterworks 2 LP-set, but it has not appeared on CD. The LP soundtrack recording was, for a time, the only stereo version of the Baryshnikov ''Nutcracker'' available, since the show was originally telecast only in mono, and it was not until recently that it began to be telecast with stereo sound. The sound portion of the DVD is also in stereo. * The first complete recording of the ballet in digital stereo was issued in 1985, on a two-CD

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

set featuring Leonard Slatkin conducting the

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...

. This album originally had no "filler", but it has recently been re-issued on a multi-CD set containing complete recordings of Tchaikovsky's two other ballets, ''

'' and '' The Sleeping Beauty''. This three-ballet album has now gone out of print. There have been two major theatrical film versions of the ballet, made within seven years of each other, and both were given soundtrack albums. * The first theatrical film adaptation, made in 1985, is of the Pacific Northwest Ballet version, and was conducted by Sir

Charles Mackerras Mackerras in 2005 Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engl ...

. The music is played in this production by the

. The film was directed by Carroll Ballard, who had never before directed a ballet film (and has not done so since). Patricia Barker played Clara in the fantasy sequences, and Vanessa Sharp played her in the Christmas party scene. Wade Walthall was the Nutcracker Prince. * The second film adaptation was a 1993 film of the New York City Ballet version, titled ''George Balanchine's The Nutcracker'', with David Zinman conducting the New York City Ballet Orchestra. The director was

Emile Ardolino Emile Ardolino (May 9, 1943 – November 20, 1993) was an American television and film director and producer, best known for his work on the films ''Dirty Dancing'' (1987) and '' Sister Act'' (1992). He has won an Academy Award for Best Documenta ...

, who had won the Emmy, Obie, and Academy Awards for filming dance, and was to die of AIDS later that year. Principal dancers included the Balanchine muse Darci Kistler, who played the Sugar Plum Fairy,

Heather Watts Heather Watts (born Linda Heather Watts; September 27, 1953) is a ballet dancer, most known for her time with the New York City Ballet. Biography Born in Long Beach, California, her dream as a little girl was to be an actress. An acting ...

Damian Woetzel Damian Woetzel (born May 17, 1967) is an American choreographer. Woetzel was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he performed from 1985 until 2008. He also frequently performed with companies like the Kirov Ballet and Ameri ...

, and Kyra Nichols. Two well-known actors also took part:

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to promi ...

appeared as the Nutcracker/Prince, and

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

served as the offscreen narrator. The soundtrack features the interpolated number from ''The Sleeping Beauty'' that Balanchine used in the production, and the music is heard on the album in the order that it appears in the film, not in the order that it appears in the original ballet. * Notable albums of excerpts from the ballet, rather than just the usual ''Nutcracker Suite'', were recorded by

Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...

conducting the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscripti ...

for Columbia Masterworks, and

Fritz Reiner Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to ...

and the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

for RCA Victor. Arthur Fiedler and the

Boston Pops Orchestra The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Sym ...

(for RCA), as well as

Erich Kunzel Erich Kunzel, Jr. (March 21, 1935 – September 1, 2009) was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the '' Chicago Tribune'', he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, especially the Cincinna ...

and the

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same ...

(for

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...

) have also recorded albums of extended excerpts. The original edition of Michael Tilson Thomas's version with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, ...

on CBS Masterworks was complete, but is out of print; the currently available edition is abridged. Neither Ormandy, Reiner, nor Fiedler ever recorded a complete version of the ballet; however, Kunzel's album of excerpts runs 73 minutes, containing more than two-thirds of the music. Conductor Neeme Järvi has recorded act 2 of the ballet complete, along with excerpts from ''

''. The music is played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. * Many famous conductors of the twentieth century made recordings of the suite, but not of the complete ballet. These include

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

, Sir

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wi ...

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March ...

, Sir Neville Marriner, Robert Shaw,

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well ...

, Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving ...

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appearan ...

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

, and

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

. * In 2007, Josh Perschbacher recorded an organ transcription of the ''Nutcracker Suite''.

Ethnic stereotypes and US activism

In 2013, ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including '' Poin ...

'' printed the opinions of three directors. Ronald Alexander of Steps on Broadway and

The Harlem School of the Arts Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) is an art school in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. Harlem School of the Arts was founded in 1964, by soprano Dorothy Maynor. Maynor was succeeded by mezzo-soprano Betty Allen as President in 1979, when a new ...

said the characters in some of the dances were "borderline caricatures, if not downright demeaning". He also said some productions had made changes to improve this. In the Arabian dance, for example, it was not necessary to portray a woman as a "seductress", showing too much skin. Alexander tried a more positive portrayal of the Chinese, but this was replaced by the more traditional version, despite positive reception. Stoner Winslett of the Richmond Ballet said ''The Nutcracker'' was not racist and that her productions had a "diverse cast".

Spectrum Dance Theater A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

saw the ballet as Eurocentric and not racist. Chloe Angyal, in

Feministing Feministing.com was a feminist blog founded in 2004 by sisters Jessica and Vanessa Valenti. It had 1.2 million unique monthly visitors at its peak. The blog helped to popularize the term '' slut-shaming'' according to its directors Lori Adelman ...

, referred to "unbelievably offensive racial and ethnic stereotypes". Some people who have performed in productions of the ballet do not see a problem because they are continuing what is viewed as "a tradition". According to

, "Coffee" was a sensuous belly dance intended for the fathers, not the children. In ''The New Republic'' in 2014, Alice Robb described white people wearing "harem pants and a straw hat, eyes painted to look slanted" and "wearing chopsticks in their black wigs" in the Chinese dance. The Arabian dance, she said, has a woman who "slinks around the stage in a belly shirt, bells attached to her ankles". One of the problems, Robb said, was the use of white people to play ethnic roles, because of the directors' desire for everyone to look the same. Among the attempts to change the dances were Austin McCormick making the Arabian dance into a

pole dance Pole dance combines dance and acrobatics centered on a vertical pole. This performance art form takes place not only in gentleman's clubs as erotic dance, but also as a mainstream form of fitness, practiced in gyms and dedicated dance studi ...

, and San Francisco Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater changing the Chinese dance to a dragon dance.

Alastair Macaulay Alastair Macaulay is an English writer and dance critic. He was the chief dance critic for '' The New York Times'' from 2007 until he retired in 2018. He was previously chief dance critic at '' The Times'' and Literary Supplement and chief theater ...

of ''The New York Times'' defended Tchaikovsky, saying he "never intended his Chinese and Arabian music to be ethnographically correct". He said, "their extraordinary color and energy are far from condescending, and they make the world of 'The Nutcracker' larger." To change anything is to "unbalance ''The Nutcracker''" with music the author did not write. If there were stereotypes, Tchaikovsky also used them in representing his own country of Russia. Moreover, the Votkinsk-born composer is perceived as a part of cultural heritage of

Finnic peoples The Finnic or Fennic peoples, sometimes simply called Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (now commonly ''Finno-Permic'') language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of ...

(non-Indo-European).

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

professor Jennifer Fisher said in 2018 that a two-finger salute used in the Chinese dance was not a part of the culture. Though it might have had its source in a Mongolian chopstick dance, she called it "heedless insensitivity to stereotyping". She also complained about the use in the Chinese dance of "bobbing, subservient '

kowtow A kowtow is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. In Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of reverence. It was widely used to show reverence ...

' steps, Fu Manchu mustaches, and ...

yellowface Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, ...

" makeup, compared to

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people, Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of ...

. One concern she had was that dancers believed they were learning about Asian culture, when they were really experiencing a cartoon version. Fisher went on to say some ballet companies were recognizing that change had to happen. Georgina Pazcoguin of the

and former dancer Phil Chan started the "Final Bow for Yellowface" movement and created a web site which explained the history of the practices and suggested changes. One of their points was that only the Chinese dance made dancers look like an ethnic group other than the one they belonged to. The New York City Ballet went on to drop

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...

wigs and makeup and change some dance moves. Some other ballet companies followed.

In popular culture

Film

Several films having little or nothing to do with the ballet or the original Hoffmann tale have used its music: * The 1940

animated film '' Fantasia'' features a segment using

. This version was also included both as part of the 3-LP soundtrack album of ''Fantasia'' (since released as a 2-CD set), and as a single LP, with '' Dance of the Hours'', another ''Fantasia'' segment, on the reverse side. * '' The Spirit of Christmas'', a 1950

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...

made-for-TV featurette in color narrated by Alexander Scourby, utilizes the poem '' A Visit from St. Nicholas'', and this sequence also includes music from ''The Nutcracker''. * A 1951 thirty-minute short, ''Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen'', issued on DVD by Something Weird Video, features several dances from ''The Nutcracker''. * ''The Nutcracker'' (1973) features a nameless girl (slightly similar to Clara) who works as a

maid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

. She befriends and falls in love with a nutcracker ornament, who was a young prince cursed by the three headed Mouse King. * Sanrio released a stop-motion adaptation of The Nutcracker entitled '' Nutcracker Fantasy'' in 1979. * In 1988, '' Care Bears Nutcracker Suite'' was produced by the Canadian animation studio

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Found ...

and featured the Care Bears characters. * A 1990 animated film titled '' The Nutcracker Prince'' was released and distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures and uses cuts of the music throughout and its story is based heavily on that of the ballet. * A 1999 animated film titled ''

The Nuttiest Nutcracker ''The Nuttiest Nutcracker'' is a 1999 computer-animated direct-to-video Christmas film loosely based on the 1892 ballet ''The Nutcracker.'' The film was directed by Harold Harris and starred the voices of Jim Belushi, Cheech Marin, and Phyllis ...

'' featured the voices of

Cheech Marin :''The surname'' Marin ''is of Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled'' Marín'', with an acute accent on the'' í. Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and activist who gain ...

Jim Belushi James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Jim on the sitcom ''According to Jim'' (2001–2009). His other television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' Total Security'' ...

, and

Phyllis Diller Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and ...

, and followed a group of anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables. * In 2001,

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiratio ...

appeared in her first film, '' Barbie in the Nutcracker''. It used excerpts by Tchaikovsky, which were performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Though it heavily altered the story, it still made use of ballet sequences which had been

rotoscope Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced ov ...

d using real ballet dancers. * In 2007, '' Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale'' also used ''The Nutcracker'' excerpts, which were performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. *

announced that a remake of The Nutcracker would be directed by Robert Zemeckis through the use of

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

, a technique that was used in The Polar Express, Monster House,

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English Epic poetry, epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translations of Beo ...

, and A Christmas Carol. The film was cancelled following the box office disappointment of Mars Needs Moms. * In 2010, '' The Nutcracker in 3D'' with Elle Fanning abandoned the ballet and most of the story, retaining much of Tchaikovsky's music with lyrics by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...

. The $90 million film became the year's biggest

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

. *In 2016, the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies ...

presented ''A Nutcracker Christmas;'' a tele-film that contains a number of selected scenes of the 1892 two-act Nutcracker ballet. *In 2017, the Athens State Orchestra in collaboration with Cinecreed productions (former name: 1895 cinematic creations) presented "A Different Nutcracker" animation film, directed by Yiorgos Molvalis. At the premiere (Chr. Lamprakis,

Athens Concert Hall The Athens Concert Hall (Greek: Μέγαρον Μουσικής Αθηνών, ''Mégaron Mousikis Athinon'') is a concert hall located on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue in Athens, Greece. The Hall was inaugurated in 1991 with two halls. Since then it ...

, December 26, 2017) as Silent animation, the film was recorded live by the Athens State Orchestra. In 2020 the official recording was integrated in to the film marking its completion and making it available for screenings without the need to have the orchestra present. * In 2018, the Disney live-action film '' The Nutcracker and the Four Realms'' was released with

Lasse Hallström Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström (; born 2 June 1946) is a Swedish film director. He first became known for directing almost all the music videos by the pop group ABBA, and subsequently became a feature film director. He was nominated for an Academ ...

and

Joe Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston II (born May 13, 1950) is an American film director, producer, writer, and visual effects artist. He is best known for directing effects-driven films, including '' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' (1989), '' Jumanji'' (19 ...

as directors and a script by Ashleigh Powell.

Television

* A 1954 Christmas episode of ''

General Electric Theater ''General Electric Theater'' was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations. Radio After an audition s ...

'' featured

and his choral group, the Pennsylvanians, singing excerpts from ''The Nutcracker'' with specially written lyrics. While the music was being sung, the audience saw ballet dancers performing. The episode was hosted by Ronald Reagan. * The 1987

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

'' Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder'' opens every episode with the first notes of the ballet amid scenes of Frances Schreuder's daughter dancing to it in ballet dress. * "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays in the gabian dubbing version of '' El Chapulín Colorado'' episode "El Mistério Del Hombre De Las Nieves" while Chapolin and his friends Carlos and Florinda use sleeping bags for themselves to sleep at home until the music is interrupted after a fake

yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''

Garfield and Friends'' episode, "Caped Avenger", "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays briefly while a shadow kidnaps Pooky. * The "Toon TV" episode of ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...

'' features an arcade-themed song called "Video Game Blues", set to "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "The Russian Dance". * '' Batman: The Animated Series'' episode, "Christmas with the Joker",

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman'' on April 25, 19 ...

plays, "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", and later, "The Russian Dance" on a record player to distract

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...

and

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin **Forest rob ...

. * A 1996 episode of '' The Magic School Bus'' ("Holiday Special", season 3, episode 39), Wanda is planning to see a performance of ''The Nutcracker''. Some of the music for this episode was based on the score of the ballet. * The

Barney & Friends ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series targeted at young children aged 2–7, created by Sheryl Leach. The series premiered on PBS on April 6, 1992. The series features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomo ...

TV Christmas episode features its own version of the Nutcracker with Barney the Dinosaur as the narrator, dressed up in a tuxedo vest and matching cuffs. * ''

Princess Tutu is a Japanese magical girl anime series created by illustrator and animator Ikuko Itoh. Inspired by ballet and fairy tales, particularly '' The Ugly Duckling'' and ''Swan Lake'', the story follows a duck who is transformed into the mythica ...

'', a 2002

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series that uses elements from many ballets as both music and as part of the storyline, uses the music from ''The Nutcracker'' in many places throughout its run, including using an arranged version of the overture as the theme for the main character. Both the first and last episodes feature ''The Nutcracker'' as their 'theme', and one of the main characters is named Drosselmeyer. * An arrangement of this the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy can be heard in Episode 8 of

Girls und Panzer , abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsuto ...

. * Arrangements of the Waltz of the flowers can be heard in Episode 7 of

Guilty Crown is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G which aired on Fuji TV's noitamina program block from October 13, 2011. The story revolves around Shu Ouma, a high school boy who comes into possession of an abilit ...

. * The 2015 Canadian television film '' The Curse of Clara: A Holiday Tale'', based on an autobiographical short story by onetime Canadian ballet student Vickie Fagan, centres on a young ballet student preparing to dance the role of Clara in a production of ''The Nutcracker''.

Video games

* In the NES version of ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet Union, Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute o ...

'', the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" is available as background music (referred to in the settings as "Music 1"), and the same arrangement was later remixed for the Game Boy Advance version of '' Tetris Worlds''. * In the NES game '' Winter Games'', "Waltz of the Flowers" is used as the music for the

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympics, 1908 Olympics ...

event. * In the game ''

BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 pla ...

'', the main character Jack meets an insane musician named Sander Cohen who tasks Jack with killing and photographing four of Sander's ex-disciples. When the third photograph is given to Sander, in a fit of pique he unleashes waves of splicer enemies to attack Jack while playing "Waltz of the Flowers" from speakers in the area. * In the original '' Lemmings'' "Dance of the Reed Flutes" and "Miniature Overture" is used in several levels. * In '' Weird Dreams'', there is also a plus sized ballerina dancing to the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" in the Hall of Tubes. * In the

Baby Bowser , or King Koopa, is a fictional character, the primary antagonist in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. In Japan, the character bears the title of . Bowser is the leader of the turtle-like Koopa race. Despite ...

levels of '' Yoshi's Story'', a variation of the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" is used as the background music. * In '' Mega Man Legends'', the "Waltz of the Flowers" can be heard in the Balloon Fantasy minigame. * In '' Crash Tag Team Racing'', the "Trepak" are the background themes played during Tire & Ice track as a part with " Kalinka" and "

Hungarian Dance No. 5 The ''Hungarian Dances'' (german: Ungarische Tänze, links=no) by Johannes Brahms ( WoO 1), are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1879. They vary from about a minute to five minutes in length. They ...

". * In the Wii version of ''

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a 2009 and 2011 sports and party game developed by Sega. Like its predecessor, it was published by Nintendo for Japan and Korea and by Sega in the Western world. The game is officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ...

'', "Waltz of the Flowers" is used as optional background music for the

event. In the Nintendo DS version, the "Marche" and "Trepak" are used. * In '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'' the "Waltz of Flowers", "The Arabian Dance", "The Russian Dance", "The Dance of the Reed Flutes" and "The Chinese Dance" are the background themes that play when Riku is in the world based on Disney's '' Fantasia''. * In '' Hatoful Boyfriend'', the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" is used as the character theme for Iwamine Shuu. * In a TV advertisement for '' Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2'', the plastic

army men Army men, or plastic soldiers, are toy soldiers that are about tall and most commonly molded from olive green, relatively unbreakable plastic. Unlike the more expensive toy soldiers available in hobby shops, army men are sold at low prices ...

work together using a train playset to move a firecracker under the Christmas tree and place it between the Nutcracker doll's legs, while "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays. * In '' Fantasia: Music Evolved'', a medley of "The Nutcracker" is listed and consists of the "Marche", "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", and "Trepak"; besides the original mix, there is also the "D00 BAH D00" mix and the "DC Breaks" mix. * In '' Dynamite Headdy'', the "March" is used in the Mad Dog boss battle. * In ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'' one of the classical horns, that can be bought for cars, plays the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". * The "Waltz of the Flowers" appears during a baby's death scene in '' What Remains of Edith Finch''. * In the game "Cell to Singularity," "Waltz of the Flowers" is heard in the background when new creatures are created. * In ''

LittleBigPlanet 3 ''LittleBigPlanet 3'' is a puzzle-platform game developed by Sumo Digital for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. It was released worldwide through November and December 2014, and it is the third entry in the main '' LittleBigPlanet'' series, ...

'', a remix of "Waltz of the Flowers" is used as background music in the level "Tutu Tango" and is an unlockable music track in Create Mode. * The "Kids Mode" of ''

Just Dance 2021 ''Just Dance 2021'' is a 2020 dance rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was unveiled on August 26, 2020 during the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase August 2020 web presentation as the twelfth main installment of the series, ...

'' and '' Just Dance 2022'' features the song "Dance of the Mirlitons" on the soundtrack.

Children's recordings

There have been several recorded children's adaptations of the E.T.A. Hoffmann story (the basis for the ballet) using Tchaikovsky's music, some quite faithful, some not. One that was not was a version titled ''The Nutcracker Suite for Children'', narrated by Metropolitan Opera announcer Milton Cross, which used a two-piano arrangement of the music. It was released as a 78-RPM album set in the 1940s. For the children's label Peter Pan Records, actor Victor Jory narrated a condensed adaptation of the story with excerpts from the score. It was released on one side of a 45-RPM disc. A later version, titled ''The Nutcracker Suite'', starred

Denise Bryer Denise Bryer (5 January 1928 – 16 October 2021) was an English actress, known for her voice roles on television and radio. Career Best remembered in her UK homeland for her work on the Gerry Anderson series, ''Terrahawks'', where she voiced ...

and a full cast, was released in the 1960s on LP and made use of Tchaikovsky's music in the original orchestral arrangements. It was quite faithful to Hoffmann's story ''

'', on which the ballet is based, even to the point of including the section in which Clara cuts her arm on the glass toy cabinet, and also mentioning that she married the Prince at the end. It also included a less gruesome version of "The Tale of the Hard Nut", the tale-within-a-tale in Hoffmann's story. It was released as part of the Tale Spinners for Children series. Spike Jones produced a 78 rpm record set "Spike Jones presents for the kiddies The Nutcracker Suite (with Apologies to Tchaikovsky)" in 1944. It includes the tracks: "The Little Girl's Dream", "Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "The Fairy Ball", "The Mysterious Room", "Back to the Fairy Ball" and "End of the Little Girl's Dream". This is all done in typical Spike Jones style, with the addition of choruses and some swing music. The entire recording is available at archive.com

Journalism

* In 2009, Pulitzer Prize–winning dance critic Sarah Kaufman wrote a series of articles for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' criticizing the primacy of ''The Nutcracker'' in the American repertory for stunting the creative evolution of ballet in the United States: * In 2010,

, dance critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (who had previously taken Kaufman to task for her criticism of ''The Nutcracker'') began ''The Nutcracker Chronicles'', a series of blog articles documenting his travels across the United States to see different productions of the ballet. * In 2014, Ellen O’Connell, who trained with the Royal Ballet in London, wrote, in

Salon (website) ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including r ...

, on the darker side of ''The Nutcracker'' story. In E.T.A. Hoffmann's original story, the ''Nutcracker and Mouse King,'' Marie's (Clara's), journey becomes a fevered delirium that transports her to a land where she sees sparkling Christmas Forests and Marzipan Castles, but in a world populated with dolls. Hoffmann's tales were so bizarre,

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

wrote about them in ''The Uncanny.''

Popular music

* The song "Dance Mystique" (track B1) on the studio album ''

Bach to the Blues ''Bach to the Blues'' is an album performed by the Ramsey Lewis Trio that was recorded in 1964 and released on the Argo Records, Argo label.Ramsey Lewis Trio is a jazz adaptation of Coffee (Arabian Dance). * The song "Fall Out" by English band

Mansun Mansun were an English alternative rock band, formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone. It was annou ...

from their 1998 album Six heavily relies on the celesta theme from the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. * The song "

Dark Ballet "Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album ''Madame X'' (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator ...

" by American singer-songwriter Madonna samples the melody of Dance of the Reed Flutes (Danish

Marzipan Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imita ...

) which is often mistaken for Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The song also relied on the lesser-known harp cadenza from Waltz of the Flowers. The same Tchaikovsky sample was earlier used in internationally famous 1992 ads for Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut with 'Madonna' as the singing chocolate bar (in Russian version the subtitles "'This Is Madonna'" ( rus, Это Мадонна, Eto Madonna) were displayed on a screen.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Tchaikovsky Research

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutcracker 1892 ballet premieres 1892 compositions Adaptations of works by E. T. A. Hoffmann Ballets by Lev Ivanov Ballets by Marius Petipa Germany in fiction Sentient toys in fiction Ballets by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Suites by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Christmas onstage Ballets premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre Race-related controversies in theatre Articles containing video clips

Composition

History

Saint Petersburg premiere

Subsequent productions

Roles

Act I

Act II

Plot

Act I

Act II

Musical sources and influences

Instrumentation

Musical scenes

From the Imperial Ballet's 1892 program

Structure

Concert excerpts and arrangements

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

Grainger: ''Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz'', for solo piano

Pletnev: Concert suite from ''The Nutcracker'', for solo piano

Contemporary arrangements

Selected discography

Ethnic stereotypes and US activism

In popular culture

Film

Television

Video games

Children's recordings

Journalism

Popular music

See also

Notes

References

External links