Peter Tchaikovsky And The Nutcracker Ballet

A great composer comes to life in this vivid, exciting story of Peter Tchaikovsky, a young man driven by his genius through the early years of his career and on to enviable success and world recognition. Peter's unhappy apprenticeship in law ended when he absentmindedly nibbled on and ruined an important legal document. If his family considered his failure a disgrace, to Peter it was an omen. Now he was free to pursue and perhaps capture the music that sang in his head. When he left St. Petersburg to teach in Moscow, he took the first decisive step on his colorful road to fame. But success did not come easily, and Peter learned to endure the hard pinch of poverty before the wealthy Madame von Meck became his patroness, providing him with a generous income. Always enchanted with the world of childhood and far more at ease in it than in the more demanding world of adults, Peter began to write ballets for his sister Alexandra's children. The Sleeping Beauty was followed by Swan Lake, and finally he created The Nutcracker Ballet, which assured his place in the hearts of children and adults alike. Opal Wheeler writes with happy and intimate warmth, portraying a great man as appealingly human, and presenting simple piano arrangements of six of his most familiar, best-loved compositions.

Faithful to the original score, this delightful arrangement by Sergey Taneyev and the composer himself renders the entire ballet in a style both idiomatic to the piano and specially designed to be relatively easy to play.

Follow Clara on a magical Christmas adventure in this musical retelling of The Nutcracker ballet—push the button on each beautiful scene to hear the vivid sound of an orchestra playing from Tchaikovsky’s score. It is Christmas Eve at Clara’s house. Scents of ginger, chocolate, and peppermint waft through the air. Clara’s parents are having a party, and her little brother Fritz is decorating the Christmas tree. Clara’s godfather, a toymaker, arrives with gifts, including a very special one for her—a wooden nutcracker carved in the shape of a little man. After Fritz breaks it, the children are sent to bed. The story follows Clara in her dreams as she battles and defeats a mouse king, then travels with her nutcracker-turned-prince to the Land of Sweets where she watches its enchanting inhabitants perform beautiful dances. As you and your little one journey through the magical scenes, you will press the buttons to hear 10 excerpts from the ballet’s music, including “The Waltz of the Flowers,” “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” “The Russian Dance,” and the awesome “Finale.” At the back of the book, find a short biography of the composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with details about his composition of The Nutcracker ballet. Next to this, you can replay the musical excerpts and, for each of them, read a discussion of the instruments, rhythms, and musical techniques that make them so powerful. A glossary defines musical terms. The Story Orchestra series brings classical music to life for children through gorgeously illustrated retellings of classic ballet stories paired with 10-second sound clips of orchestras playing from their musical scores. Manufacturer's note: please pull the white tab out of the back of the book before use. Sound buttons require a firm push in exact location to work, which may be hard for young children. All sound clips are 10 seconds long.

Commissioned to create a ballet based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Tchaikovsky set to work on a subject he disliked and ended up creating a beloved classic. This suite features such gems as Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy, Trepak (Russian Dance), Arabian Dance, and Waltz of the Flowers.

This book combines a detailed and thorough analysis of the music of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker with descriptions of the first productions of these works in Imperial Russia. A background chapter on the ballet audience, the collaboration of composer and balletmaster, and Moscow of the 1860's leads into an account of the first production of Swan Lake in 1877. A discussion of theater reforms initiated by the Director of the Imperial Theaters prepares the reader for a study of the still-famous 1890 St. Petersburg production of Sleeping Beauty. Wiley then explains how the Nutcracker, produced just two years after Sleeping Beauty, was seen in a much less favorable light than it is now. Separate chapters are devoted to the music of each ballet and translations of published libretti, choreographer's instructions to the composer, and the balletmaster's plans for Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker are reproduced in appendices.

This volume includes some of the most favorite selections from the ballet, including "Russian Dance," "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" and "Waltz of the Flowers." The story of "The Nutcracker" is provided to help players musically recreate scenes from this classic ballet. Bound to be popular with almost any student!