Concert Report by Maryse Abi Haidar

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is an 1892 two-act ballet originally choreographed by Marius

Petipa and Lev Ivanov and composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky premiered in Saint Petersburg
at the Mariinsky Theatre for the first time. The act knew massive popularity since the late 1960s
and is now performed by countless ballet companies, especially during Christmas season as it is
a magical musical journey to a land where all good dreams come true.
As mentioned above, The Nutcracker is a fairy tale ballet in 2 acts and 3 scenes. The
story starts in Act I on Christmas Eve where Councillor von Stahlbaum is giving a party for his
children; Clara and Fritz and their friends. One of the guests is Doctor Drosselmeyer; Clara’s
godfather who is known to have magical powers. As a gift, Clara receives from Drosselmeyer a
nutcracker with a pair of magical shoes from her grandparents. Everyone was happy, dancing
and celebrating around the Christmas tree. When everyone left, Clara goes back to the living
room and falls asleep with the nutcracker. At the same time, mice and rats invade the room and
start fighting when Clara wakes up and ends the fight by throwing her magical shoe at the King
of Rats and hits his head. As a gift, Drosselmeyer transforms the nutcracker to a handsome
Prince who takes Clara to the Land of Snow and the Kingdom of Sweets; where Clara dances
with everyone and falls in love with the charming Prince. During the second act, Sugar Plum
Fairy and her Knight welcome Clara and her Prince. They held a party for Clara where she is
introduced to many wonderful characters and dances. After all the dances and entertainment,
Sugar Plum Fairy reminds Clara that she has to go back and suddenly, a golden-winged swan
appears and takes Clara back home.
The New York Ballet orchestra conducted by Vello Pahn was one of the many orchestras
who performed this ballet with Aaron S. Watkin and Jason Beechey as choreographers of the
dance performances. It is essential to note that the concert orchestra was not a chamber music
because of the non-small sized orchestra but being one of the largest. The music is written for the
following instruments:
Woodwinds Brass Percussion Keyboard Strings
3 flutes 4 French horns Timpani Celesta 2 harps
2 oboes 2 trumpets Snare drum First violins
1 cor anglais 2 tenor Cymbals Second violins
trombones
2 clarinets 1 bass trombone Bass drum Violas
1 bass clarinet 1 tuba Triangle Violoncellos
2 bassoons Tambourine Double basses
Castanets
Tam-Tam

Tchaikovsky handled the string section in a unique way to help create a light, vivid,
cheerful and high-spirited effects on the listeners. In the second act, there were several dances
Concert Report by Maryse Abi Haidar

showcasing different cultures. In the Arabic dance for example, which represents coffee in the
Land of Sweets that Clara and her Price went to; there are multiple musical devices according to
Raskauskas (2017) that Tchaikovsky used to attract the listeners and create an impression of
eastern distinctiveness. There are also repeated notes that we can clearly hear in the violas and
cellos – a hum that continues throughout the entire piece which indicates that the dance will be
repeated bringing us into different moods.
Also, for the Chinese dance for example, the Chinese music is enough to inform us of
what to expect. Conductor Scott Speck, who co-authored Classical Music for Dummies and leads
the Chicago Philharmonic for performances of The Nutcracker with Joffrey Ballet, explained
that the Chinese music in general is pentatonic which means that it is composed in a scale of five
notes per octave, instead of eight, with a particular pattern of half-steps and whole-steps to create
the scale. Also, in Tchaikovsky’s Chinese dance, we can clearly hear the flute which gives a
playful theme.
Moreover, the hyper energetic Russian dance featured in the second act by the three male
dancers attracts a lot of the audience because it’s fast and gets faster throughout the performance.
The performance ends with a galloping/hurtling accelerando that the orchestra plays so quickly
as the dancers can dance to it. This rhythm can be described as a presto which is a super-fast
tempo.

Tchaikovsky’s dance; The Nutcracker, a classical ballet belonging to the Romantic period
(1820-1890) combines in it a polyphonic texture embodied in several monophonic pieces, for
example; the Russian dance is a monophonic piece, however; when combined with the Chinese
and Arabic music and the rest of the rhythms, it becomes a purely polyphonic music.

This ballet is a magical performance that I personally cherish a lot. It reminds me of the
good times spent with my family and friends during Christmas season. It is one of the rare pieces
that we can listen to throughout the whole year not only Christmas without getting bored of it. I
personally love this classical genre where I can let my dreams take me to different places. When
I was younger, I used to practice the ballet a lot, that is why I can feel a huge connection with
this outstanding choreography. Who could imagine toys coming to life after midnight? A prince
charming coming to life? Aren’t these dreams to every young girl? Each one of us has different
traditions for Christmas holidays, but they are always special and meaningful; for me, the
Nutcracker has been one of these special Christmas memories. Also, The Nutcracker can be
understood and appreciated by anyone, which makes it the perfect Christmas tradition.
Concert Report by Maryse Abi Haidar

1. https://grandsballets.com/en/nutcracker/articles/synopsis/

2. https://www.nutcracker.com/about-us/history-of-nutcracker

3. https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/The_Nutcracker#:~:text=The%20ballet%20is

%20scored%20for,%2C%20bass%20drum%2C%20tam%20tam%2C

4. https://www.wfmt.com/2017/12/13/discover-what-makes-tchaikovskys-nutcracker-

sound-like-sugar-spice-and-everything-nice/

5. https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/The_Nutcracker