FREE THE NUTCRACKER PDF E. T. A. Hoffmann | 96 pages | 06 Nov 2014 | Penguin USA | 9780143122500 | English | New York, United States The Nutcracker® | New York City Ballet The Nutcracker libretto is adapted from E. Hoffmann 's story " The Nutcracker and the Mouse King ". Although the original production was not a success, the minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late The Nutcracker and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celestaan instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda. After the success of The Sleeping Beauty inIvan Vsevolozhskythe director of the Imperial Theatres, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill program featuring both an opera and a ballet. The opera would be Iolanta. For the ballet, Tchaikovsky would again join The Nutcracker with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on The Sleeping Beauty. The material Petipa chose was an adaptation of E. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot titled "The Tale of the Hard Nut", which explains how the Prince The Nutcracker turned into the Nutcracker. This had to be excised for the ballet. Petipa gave Tchaikovsky extremely detailed instructions for the composition of each number, down to the tempo and number of bars. Although the libretto was by Marius Petipawho exactly choreographed the first production has been debated. Petipa began work on the choreography in August ; however, illness removed him from its completion and his assistant of seven years, Lev Ivanovwas The Nutcracker in. The Nutcracker Ivanov is often credited as the choreographer, The Nutcracker contemporary accounts credit Petipa. Unlike in many later productions, the children's roles were performed by real children — students of the Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburgwith Belinskaya as The Nutcracker, and Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz — rather than adults. The first performance of The Nutcracker was not deemed a success. While some critics praised Dell'Era on her pointework as the Sugar Plum Fairy she allegedly received five curtain-callsone critic called her "corpulent" and "podgy". Alexandre Benois described the choreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One can not understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and The Nutcracker — quite amateurish. The libretto was criticized as "lopsided" [10] and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet, [11] and many bemoaned the fact that the ballerina did not dance until the Grand Pas de Deux near the end of the second act which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program. Some critics called it "astonishingly The Nutcracker in detailed inspiration" and "from beginning to end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic". Inchoreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a production which eliminated the Sugar Plum Fairy and her The Nutcracker and gave their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, who were played by adults instead of children. This was the first production to The Nutcracker so. An abridged version of the ballet was first performed outside Russia in Budapest Royal Opera House inwith choreography by Ede Brada. The Nutcracker Vainonen version influenced several later productions. The first complete performance The Nutcracker Russia took place in England in[8] staged by Nicholas Sergeyev after Petipa's original choreography. Annual performances of the ballet have been staged there since It has been performed every year since by the Christensen-founded Ballet West. Since Gorsky, Vainonen and Balanchine's productions, many other choreographers have made their own versions. Some institute the changes made by Gorsky and Vainonen The Nutcracker others, like Balanchine, utilize the original libretto. In recent years, revisionist productions, including those by Mark MorrisMatthew Bourneand Mikhail Chemiakin have appeared; these depart radically from both the original libretto and Vainonen's revival, while Maurice Bejart 's version completely discards the original plot and characters. In addition to annual live stagings of the work, many productions have also been televised or released The Nutcracker home video. The following extrapolation of the characters in order of appearance is drawn from an examination of the stage directions in the score. Below is The Nutcracker synopsis based on the original libretto by Marius Petipa. The story varies from The Nutcracker to production, though most follow the basic outline. The names The Nutcracker the characters also vary. In the adaptation by Dumas on which Petipa based his libretto, The Nutcracker name is Marie The Nutcracker. It is Christmas Eve. Family and friends have gathered in the parlor to decorate the beautiful Christmas tree in preparation for the party. Once the tree is finished, the children are sent for. They stand in awe of the tree sparkling with candles and decorations. The party begins. Suddenly, as the owl-topped grandmother clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer, a local councilman, magician, and Clara's godfather. He is also a talented toymaker who has brought with him gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to the delight of all. Clara and Fritz are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden nutcracker carved in the shape of a little man. The other children ignore it, but Clara immediately takes a liking to it. Fritz, however, breaks it, and Clara is heartbroken. During the night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor to check on her beloved nutcracker. The Nutcracker she reaches the little bed, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see The Nutcracker perched atop it. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights. The nutcracker also grows to life size. Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and the mice, led by their king. The mice begin to eat the gingerbread soldiers. The nutcracker The Nutcracker to lead the soldiers, who are joined by tin soldiersand The Nutcracker dolls who serve The Nutcracker doctors to carry away the wounded. As the Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him. The mice retreat and the nutcracker is transformed into a handsome Prince. The Nutcracker recounts for her how he had been saved from the Mouse The Nutcracker by Clara and transformed back into himself. In honor The Nutcracker the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, [27] [28] tea from China, [29] and candy canes from Russia [30] all The Nutcracker for their amusement; Danish shepherdesses perform on their flutes; [31] Mother Ginger has her The Nutcracker, the Polichinelles, emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance; a string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz. A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Clara and the Prince down from their throne. He bows to her, she kisses Clara goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer drawn sleigh. It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back. In The Nutcracker original libretto, the ballet's apotheosis The Nutcracker a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches". The Nutcracker is one of the composer's most popular compositions. The music belongs to the Romantic period and contains some of his most memorable melodies, several of which are frequently used in television and film. They are often heard in TV commercials shown during the Christmas season. Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend who wagered that the composer could not write The Nutcracker melody based on a one-octave scale in sequence. Tchaikovsky asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or descending order and was assured it did not. This resulted in the Adagio from the Grand pas de deuxwhich, in the ballet, nearly always immediately follows the "Waltz of the Flowers". A story is also told that Tchaikovsky's sister had died shortly before he began composition of the ballet and that his sister's death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux. One novelty in Tchaikovsky's original score was the The Nutcracker of the celestaa new instrument Tchaikovsky had discovered in Paris. He wanted it genuinely The Nutcracker the character of the Sugar Plum Fairy to characterize her because of its "heavenly sweet sound". It appears not only in her "Dance" but also in other passages in Act II. However, he first wrote for the celesta in his symphonic ballad The Voyevoda the The Nutcracker year. Tchaikovsky also uses toy instruments during the Christmas party scene. Tchaikovsky was proud of the celesta's effect and wanted its music performed quickly for the public, before he could be "scooped". The original ballet is only about 85 minutes long if performed without applause or an intermission, and therefore much shorter than either Swan Lake or The Sleeping Beautybut some modern staged The Nutcracker have omitted or re-ordered some of the music or inserted selections from elsewhere, thus adding to the confusion over the suites. It is used as a transition between the departure of the guests and the battle with the mice.