Suite # 1 from The Nutcracker Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

The Nutcracker was the last of Tchaikovsky's 3 ballets, following Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. After hearing the unique sound of the newly invented celeste (a piano-like instrument with metal plates, hit by hammers over resonating boxes), Tchaikovsky was determined to be the first to use it in Russia. He actually published his "Suite" before the production of the ballet, featuring the celeste in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. It was a big hit. In 1940, Walt Disney and conductor Leopold Stokowski collaborated on an animated work called Fantasia, featuring selections from the Nutcracker suite, along with other classical works by composers including Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky and Mussorgsky, bringing this music to the American audience 4 years before the first performance of the ballet. For many children, hearing the Nutcracker or seeing the Ballet is their introduction to the world of classical music dance. This Christmas story revolves around a young girl who receives a Nutcracker as a gift from a rather magical toymaker, her godfather Herr Drosselmeyer. In her Christmas Eve dreams, her nutcracker-prince comes alive and defeats the mouse king and his minions in the Land of Snow. The Sugar Plum Fairy rewards their valor with a series of dances in the Land of Sweets, including the Danse Chinoise, Danse Arabe, and the Dance of the Mirlitons (a Kazoo-like instrument for children). Selections from the Suite #2 include the Marche, the Danse Russe Trepak, and conclude with the Waltz of the Flowers. Program note written by Patricia Matos-Puente MD