Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no public music education system. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five, with whom his professional relationship was mixed.

The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 66, completed in 1889. It is the second of his three ballets and, at 160 minutes, his second-longest work in any genre. The original scenario was by Ivan Vsevolozhsky after Perrault's La belle au bois dormant, or The Beauty Sleeping in the Forest; the first choreographer was Marius Petipa. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890, and from that year forward The Sleeping Beauty has remained one of the most famous ballets of all time.

Tchaikovsky based his work on Brothers Grimm's version of Perrault's 'Dornröschen'. In that version, the Princess's parents survive the 100-year sleep to celebrate the Princess's wedding with the Prince. However, Vsevolozhsky incorporated Perrault's other characters from his stories into the ballet, such as Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Bluebird, Bluebeard, Ricky of the Tuft and Tom Thumb. Other French fairy tale characters to be featured are Beauty and the Beast, Pretty Goldilocks and The White Cat. Regardless, Tchaikovsky was happy to inform the Director of the Imperial Theatre that he had great pleasure studying the work and came away with adequate inspiration to do it justice.

During Tchaikovsky’s lifetime the concept of a suite remained unrealized. However, in December 1899, Pyotr Jurgenson brought out a suite with five numbers for large symphony orchestra (Op. 67-bis), under Aleksandr Ziloti‘s editorship, and also in a two-hand arrangement for piano by Eduard Langer. The Sleeping Beauty Waltz is taken from act 1 No. 6 of the ballet, and is one of those melodies we’ve all heard since we were children, timeless in its beauty. It was famously featured in Disney’s “The Sleeping Beauty”, where Aurora waltzes along with her Prince to the piece.

Source: Wikipedia (hhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeping_Beauty_(ba llet)).

Although originally composed for Orchestra, I created this arrangement of "Sleeping Beauty Waltz" from the "Sleeping Beauty Suite" (Op. 66a Act 1. No. 6) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola, Cello & Bass).