The Nutcracker, that most beloved of classical ballets, started life as a story by German romantic writer 

E. T. A. Hoffmann. Nutcracker and Mouse King (1816-17) is a tale of some complexity, one that children may enjoy but only adults can fully appreciate. The story had to be much simplified when it was turned into a ballet more than seventy years later in St. Petersburg, Russia. Yet the lavish spectacle, and especially Tchaikovsky’s glorious music, more than made up for the meagerness of the plot and the lack of drama, something the early critics complained about. And while The Nutcracker remains an all-time Christmas favorite for all dance aficionados, the music has found a home in the concert hall as well.

The suite Tchaikovsky had drawn from the ballet score was first performed some nine months before the stage premiere. It opens with the delightful “Ouverture miniature,” a march tune where the marchers are children (cellos and double basses are accordingly omitted). A more elaborate march follows, still for children, but more “seriously” at play this time. In the Suite, this march leads directly into the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It contains a virtuoso part for what at the time was a 

brand-new instrument, the celesta, invented a few years earlier (1886) by Auguste Mustel in France. Tchaikovsky specified in the score that a piano could be used if a celesta was not available. He also cautioned that “the musician who plays this part must be a good pianist”; that is quite true indeed.

Next come three “ethnic” dances: a Ukrainian tropak (“Trepak” in Russian), then an Arabian and a Chinese number. The melody of the lively Trepak is reminiscent of the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto (1878). The sensual Arabian piece (based, actually, on a Georgian folksong) is the dance of the Coffee—part of the elaborate performance Clara, the ballet’s protagonist, gets to watch in the magic land where she goes with her handsome prince. The Chinese dance that follows is performed by the Tea, with a high-pitched flute solo accompanied by plucked strings and bassoons in their extreme low register. The graceful “Dance of the Mirlitons” (toy flutes or reed pipes) is dominated by a trio of flutes, interrupted by a brief bass theme in the middle. The suite concludes with the ever-popular “Waltz of the Flowers,” which contains some of the most magnificent melodies Tchaikovsky (or anyone, for that matter) ever wrote.

Notes By Peter Laki