TchaikovskyTchaikovsky BiographyBiography Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Vótkinsk, Russia, and he died in 1893. He was a composer from the romantic period and he composed many classical works, however I am only going to focus on two of them, the ballets of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker Suit.
He was born in a middle class family and his education was focused on preparing him to be a civil servant, in spite of his musical talent. But against his familiy’s wishes, he decided to persue his musical career in the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. His life had many personal crises and times of depression due to his repressed homosexuality and to his fear of others finding out about it.
The Swan Lake is a ballet composed by Tchaikovsky in 1876. It consists in four acts and it’s inspirated in Russian folk tales. It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse.
The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger. The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on 4 March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Julius Reisigner • http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=fghta46Fcyk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=dbhb3DHUfhI
The Nutcracker is a ballet composed by Tchaikovsky and choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in 1892. It consists in two acts. The performance of the ballet was a double première toguether with Tchaikovsky’s last opera, Iolanta, on 18 December 1892 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Marius Petipa also wrote the libretto adapting the Hoffman’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
Marius Petipa Story
A girl, Clara, recives a nutcracker for Christmas. At midnight, some mice appear, waking up Clara and rounding her. Suddenly, the nutcracker receives life and defends Clara. The nutcracker fights against the Mouse King and the nutcracker wins. Then it turns into a prince. Clara and the prince travel to a world where snowflake dancers, fairies and queens dance to give them the welcome. There, they go to the sweets world, where they see the different dances. After the celebrations Clara wakes up under the Christmas tree of her living room with her wooden nutcracker, everything was a dream but she was happy because of her fantastic adventure. • https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Wz_f9B4pPtg TheThe EndEnd