The Nutcracker , Op. 71, is a two-act ballet,
originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev
Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The
libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The
Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given its
première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on
Sunday, 18 December 1892, on a double-bill with
Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta. Although the original
production was not a success, the twenty-minute suite
that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ball...(+)
The Nutcracker , Op. 71, is a two-act ballet,
originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev
Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The
libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The
Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given its
première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on
Sunday, 18 December 1892, on a double-bill with
Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta. Although the original
production was not a success, the twenty-minute suite
that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was.
However, 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 the U.S. Major
American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of
their annual ticket revenues from performances of The
Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his
most famous compositions, in particular the pieces
featured in the suite. Among other things, the score is
noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that
the composer had already employed in his much lesser
known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda. (Wikipedia)
SHEET MUSIC