Is this ballet for you?

Go if: you want to treat your kids, godchildren, nieces and nephews or even perhaps the kid in you.

Skip if: Bah humbug!

Dream Cast

Sugar Plum Fairy: any ballerina who can do proper gargouillades

Alina Cojocaru as The Sugar Plum Fairy. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Background

The Nutcracker is a major example of a balletic twist of fate. The very thing critics and audiences objected to at the time of its premiere 117 years ago – its appeal to children – is what turned it into such a bankable classic. From your local end of the year ballet school presentation to the most lavish productions for the big companies and every kind of thing in-between (even Nutcracker on Ice), Christmas season has now become saturated with Nutcrackers everywhere.

Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the same Imperial Theatre Director who had brought together Tchaikovsky and Petipa for his ambitious project The Sleeping Beauty had imagined a new ballet to be based on the book L’Histoire d’un Casse Noisette by Alexandre Dumas père. This was a story he knew from his time in Paris as a diplomat and which Dumas himself had adapted from Ernst Theodor Amadeus (E.T.A.) Hoffmann’s Nussknacker und Mausekönig (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King) from 1816.

Vsevolozhsky managed to secure Tchaikovsky and Petipa’s collaboration again but Tchaikovsky only agreed to write for The Nutcracker on the basis that he would also be able to work on his opera Iolanta. Because Petipa had fallen ill he ended up working mostly with the choreographer’s assistant Lev Ivanov. Although Tchaikovsky’s music was appreciated (but again thought too symphonic for a ballet) the production was criticized, mainly for the lack of logic relationship between its two acts. The Nutcracker received only 14 performances initially. Some critics thought there was not enough complexity in the story and “no subject whatever”. To critics and audiences alike, the Nutcracker was a luxurious piece but one that was “made for children”.

The Nutcracker in the West

Although it was not considered much of a hit in Russia The Nutcracker kept being performed throughout the theatre year (at that time it was not yet heavily associated with the Christmas season). In the West, however, it boomed. First seen in scattered pieces, with the Arabian dance transplanted into the Ballets Russes’s Sleeping Princess and with Anna Pavlova’s take on The Waltz of the Snowflakes, London audiences soon got the first full version.

Most versions have some links back to the original but by the time they were staged much of the choreography had been lost and/or changed. This meant that Ivanov’s original Waltz of the Snowflakes had to be reconstructed from notations (presumably incomplete) made in St. Petersburg before WWI.  Likewise, Ivanov’s Grand Pas De Deux in which Prince Coqueluche (Koklush) spread out a veil gently gliding the Sugar Plum Fairy as if she were on ice (or icing sugar) has been revised or scrapped in most versions although Balanchine’s Nutcracker still pays homage to it.

Elizabeth Harrod as Clara and Alastair Marriott as Drosselmeyer, in The Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo: Johan Persson/ ROH ©

Perhaps the biggest downside to so many different Nutcracker versions over the years has been the progressive watering down of E.T.A Hoffmann’s original story and its aura of mystery, rooted in the German Romantic movement. Hoffmann’s tales often include fantastic elements coexisting with folklore (another example being Coppélia) which are sometimes ignored in favour of the ballet’s child friendly aspects. However, some versions of the ballet seek to preserve the Romantic layers and its mystery, notably Nureyev’s version for the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) as well as Sir Peter Wright’s for The Royal Ballet and for Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Versions

The first complete Nutcracker was staged in London by the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1934, based on choreographic notation by Nicholas Sergeyev. Ten years later saw the first US version by San Francisco Ballet (1944) and another ten years brought George Balanchine’s blockbusting version for NYCB (1954), now staged every year by several US ballet companies. By the 1980s, 300 separate productions were touring the US.

Sir Peter Wright’s versions

Sir Peter’s 1984 version of The Nutcracker for The Royal Ballet, still performed by the Company, stays close to Hoffmann’s original tale. It emphasises Drosselmeyer’s mission to find a young girl – Clara – who can break the curse imposed by the Mouse King on his nephew Hans Peter and thus restore him to human form. References to Nuremberg and German Christmas traditions are present in the settings, with a kingdom of marzipan featured in Act 2. Equally successful is his 1990 version for The  Birmingham Royal Ballet, this one closer to the Russian tradition of having Clara double up as the Sugar Plum Fairy, but with a slight twist: it is Clara’s alter ego ballerina doll who turns into the Fairy.

Jamie Bond as The Prince in Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

The Odd Ones

Nureyev’s production for POB has a clear emphasis on symbology and the subconscious: Clara wanders down the stairs at midnight to find her family and friends turned into rats and bats while Drosselmeyer transforms into a handsome prince.

Mikhail Baryshnikov’s 1976 popular version for ABT turns the Christmas dream into a coming-of-age tale. There is no Sugar Plum Fairy nor Prince Koklush, the focus being Clara’s encounter with the Nutcracker Prince as orchestrated by her Godfather Drosselmeyer. As the ballet ends so does Clara’s fantasy.

More recently the ballet has seen a flurry of ironic takes. In Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut (1991) the Stahlbaums are a suburban family with a fake Christmas tree, bad hairdos and too much to drink, the second act Arabian divertissement being a trio for oil sheiks. In Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! (1992) Clara lives in an orphanage run by Mr. and Mrs. Dross and tries to win the heart of the hunky Nutcracker prince.

Story

These myriad versions make it impossible for us to list all the differences and twists in the various Nutcrackers around the world but the storyline is more or less always the same:

Characters

• Herr Drosselmeyer
• Clara (or Marie, or Masha)
• Nutcracker Prince (or Hans Peter)
• Sugar Plum Fairy
• Her Prince Cavalier (Prince Koklush)

Act 1

A Christmas party is taking place at the Stahlbaums’, parents to Clara and Fritz. Drosselmeyer brings his goddaughter Clara a gift of a nutcracker doll.  Children being children, Fritz eventually grabs and breaks the Nutcracker doll much to Clara’s dismay. Drosselmeyer fixes it restoring peace amongst the youngsters. Guests depart and Clara suddently sees herself surrounded by a fantasy world, where the Christmas tree grows giant and dolls and soldiers come to life to battle with the mice who have also grown to Clara’s own size. She sees her Nutcracker doll leading the battle and being attacked by the Mouse King. She throws her slipper at the Mouse, liberating the Nutcracker who turns into a Prince. They embark on a magical journey, their first stop being the Land of Snow where snow flakes waltz around them in patterns, as if blown by the wind.

Act 2

Clara and her Nutcraker Prince arrive at the Kingdom of Sweets where they are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince Cavalier. They are invited to watch a series of divertissements representing exotic travels and various different sweets: Chocolate (Spanish dance) Coffee (Arabian dance) Tea (Chinese dance), the Russian Trépak (Cossacks), Mother Ginger & the polichinelles (in certain versions), along with the dance of the little pipes/Mirlitons and the Waltz of the Flowers. The celebrations close with the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince dancing a grand pas de deux. The curtain usually falls on Clara waking up back at home wondering whether it was all just a dream.

Roberta Marquez and Valeri Hristov in The Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo: Dee Conway / ROH ©

Music

Tchaikovsky died in 1893 not knowing what a big success his work would achieve. He had been burned twice before writing for ballet (with Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty) so he was less than enthusiastic to do so again but Vsevolozhsky convinced him on the basis that he would also be able to write the opera Iolanta which interested him more and which premiered on the same day as the ballet. Paradoxically, his Nutcracker score became, over the years, the more celebrated of the two works.

Having received the joint commission, Tchaikovsky started on The Nutcracker writing to his brother Anatoly in March 1891 that “the main thing is to get rid of the ballet; as to the opera I am so fascinated by it that if I could have two weeks of peace I would be sure to finish it on schedule”. As he embarked on a trip to Berlin and Paris en route to an American tour that same year he heard of the death of his sister Sasha.  Perhaps for this reason a hint of sadness  and nostalgia permeates The Nutcracker’s haunting score.

He finished composing the ballet on 6 July 1891 having added to it a novelty instrument which he had bought during his tour in Paris, the celesta, which he used to give The Sugar Plum Fairy her characteristic sound of heavenly bells.

An essential Nutcracker Spotify/Ipod playlist should include the below tracks:

Op.71 – Overture
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 1 The Christmas Tree
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 2 March
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 6 Clara and the Nutcracker
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 7 The Nutcracker Battles the Army of the Mouse King
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 8 In the Christmas Tree
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 9 Scene and Waltz of the Snowflakes
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 10 The Magic Castle on the Mountain of Sweets
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12a Character Dances: Chocolate (Spanish Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12b Character Dances: Coffee (Arabian Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12c Character Dances: Tea (Chinese Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12d Character Dances: Trépak (Russian Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12e Character Dances: Dance of the Reed Pipes
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12f Character Dances: Polchinelle
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 13 Waltz of the Flowers
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14a Pas de deux: Intrada
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14b Pas de deux: Variation I (Tarantella)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14c Pas de deux: Variation II (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14d Pas de deux: Coda
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 15 Final Waltz and Apotheosis

Mini-Biography

Original Choreography: Marius Petipa/Lev Ivanov
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Original Designs: M.I. Botcharov with K. Ivanov wit costumes by I.A. Vsevolozhsky
Original Cast: Antoinetta dell’Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerd as Prince “Koklush” (also known as Prince Coqueluche or Orgeat), Nikolay Legat as The Nutcraker Prince and Timofei Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer.
Premiere: 6 December 1892 Mariinsky (also credited as 17 December 1892)

Where to see it in the UK

The Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker is in repertoire at the Royal Opera House from November 26 to January 1st. For booking details visit the ROH website.

Birmingham Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker is in repertoire at the Birmingham Hippodrome from November 27 to December 13. For booking details visit The Birmingham Hippodrome’s website.

English National Ballet – The Nutcracker, with choreography by Christopher Hampson, is in repertoire at the London Coliseum from December 16 to January 3. For booking details visit the ENO website.

Sources and Further Information

1. Royal Opera House Nutcracker podcast
2. The Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker Programme Notes.
3. The Nutcracker History by Gerald Charles. Ballet Met Notes for The Nutcracker, November 1998 [link]
4. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker/Swan Lake/The Sleeping Beauty Highlights. Naxos Recording with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. [link]
5. The Refined Product of a Great Artist: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta by Hugo Shirley. Opera Holland Park. [link]
6. Nuts, Sluts, Rats and Bats by Judith Mackrell. The Guardian, December 2001. [link]
7. How to Design the Nutcracker by Ismene Brown. The Arts Desk [link]
8. Breaking Pointe: The Nutcracker is a Gift that Takes More than it Gives by Sarah Kaufman. The Washington Post [link]
9. Wikipedia entry on The Nutcracker [link]

I figured the best place for me to start at for my inspiration blog is to talk about what inspired me to pursue a career in music.

I began playing piano when I was six years old. I knew right away it was something I loved doing. I never needed to be told to practice, and could barely pass by my piano without sitting down to play. It was something that I not only excelled at, but also something that brought me an immense amount of joy. Within a year of playing, I knew that music was something that I would always have to have in my life.

When I was ten, we had the chance to pick an instrument to play in band or orchestra at my school. With some light pressuring from the band teacher (also a horn player), I chose the french horn. Even though I loved the horn, it always took a second seat to my first love, the piano. This was true all the way until my junior year of high school. That year I made it to All-State orchestra. I still remember vividly the finale of the concert, the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony. It was in that moment, of performing the piece and the rush of joy that came after, I felt that I knew that I could do nothing else with my life.

To this day, if I have any doubts about what I am doing and what all this hard work is for, I simply have to listen to that last movement to know that I am on the right path.

Here is the last part of the finale of Tchaikovsky’s fifth, conducted by Leonard Bernstein

And Naxos will give it to you, so you can enjoy this year’s russian Waldbühne: Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov…. rich, don’t you think?  Here is a preview:

This little-known Tchaikovsky opera is based on a tale by Gogol called Christmas Eve, a time of the year when witches were abroad, and demonic forces had to be tamed. In this story it’s achieved through youthful energy and a sense of fun, as Vakula the smith cunningly uses and circumvents these dangerous magical forces. They enable him to acquire the Tsarina’s slippers, a heroic task that his beloved Oxana challenges him to achieve if he wants to marry her. The basic story — boy gets girl — appears here in a phantasmagorical setting where the young man’s mother is a witch whose admirers include the schoolmaster, the mayor, and the devil himself.

This sparkling production by Francesca Zambello has lovely set designs by Mikhail Mokrov, and very colourful costumes by Tatiana Noginova, with lighting design by Rick Fisher. It includes serious ballet work, some electrifying Cossack dances and acrobatics, plus court dances for the opera chorus, all choreographed by Alastair Marriott. The second half, comprising Acts III and IV, is wonderful fun; the Cossack dancers were absolutely terrific, and Gary Avis and Mara Galeazzi of the Royal Ballet did some lovely pas-de-deux work.

Musically it all worked very well under the baton of Alexander Polianichko, who drew strong contributions from the wind section, and a very Russian sound from the orchestra. As to the singers, Larissa Diadkova was predictably excellent as Solokha the witch, with Maxim Mikhailov vocally and physically lively as the devil. The bass role for the elderly Cossack, Chub was wonderfully sung and acted by Vladimir Matorin, and Vakula was very strongly performed by Vsevolod Grivnov, making a superb debut at Covent Garden. Chub’s daughter Oxana was sung by Olga Guryakova, also making her debut at Covent Garden, but her powerful voice was regrettably screechy at times. This was altogether a fine cast, and Sergei Leiferkus sang glowingly in the relatively small role of ‘his highness’, who provides Vakula with the Tsarina’s slippers.

It’s a new production that should appeal to anyone with an appreciation for Tchaikovsky, Russian opera, or indeed magical realism in the great Slavic tradition. The only problem is that it was sold out before the first night!

“Lastimo, luego existo.”

Tremenda, rotunda frase extraída de un diario del compositor ruso. Porque sufro existo y porque existo, sufro. No es difícil encontrar este sentimiento entre los grandes compositores. Y así, en muchos de ellos, el sufrimiento es una tónica dominante. Una constante que asfixia la existencia pero que, lejos de conducir a la agonía, engendra la composición. Grandes almas que fueron capaces de transformar el más radical y absoluto sentimiento de sufrimiento en bellísimas obras capaces de conmover los espíritus y las almas de sus semejantes.

En 1988, Tchaikovsky comienza a escribir su Sinfonía número 5 en Mi Menor, Op. 64. Sobre ella, escribiría el compositor: “Introducción: sumisión total ante el destino o, lo que es igual, ante la predestinación inelectable de la providencia. Allegro I. Murmullos, dudas, reproches a XXX. II. ¿No valdría más entregarse por completo a la fe? El programa es excelente si consigo llegar a realizarlo.”

Sumisión total ante el destino. Genuflexión ante ese guión vital escrito por no se sabe quién y en el cual, nuestras vidas se desarrollan. Destino como camino y sendero ya trazado y definido, donde los árboles se disponen de forma caprichosa y las colinas se suceden sin un aparente motivo.

“El programa es excelente si consigo llegar a realizarlo.“

No obstante, más tarde, el propio Tchaikovsky, el siempre inseguro Tchaikovsky, en carta dirigida a Nadezhka von Meck, escribiría: “La sinfonía es demasiado colorida, demasiado pesada, insincera, deslucida, en general desagradable. Con la excepción de Taneyev quien insiste que la Quinta es mi mejor composición, todos mis amigos honestos y sinceros piensan pobremente de ella. ¿Podríamos decir entonces que estoy acabado? ¿Ha comenzado el principio de fin?”

Para muchos, ese principio del fin comenzó no con la composición de la quinta sinfonía, sino con la escritura de la cuarta, con la que inaugura un ciclo de tres sinfonías (cuarta, quinta y sexta), fuertemente centradas en el concepto de destino. Extremadamente dramáticas en muchos de sus pasajes, hasta concluir de forma absoluta con la sexta, su sinfonía patética, que no patética sinfonía.

La obra fue estrenada en la Sociedad Filarmónica de San Petersburgo, el seis de noviembre de 1988, junto al Concierto número 2 para piano y orquesta, y bajo la dirección del propio compositor. Un seis de noviembre, ese número fatídico para Piotr, quien fallecería el seis de noviembre de 1893, cinco años después de estrenar su quinta sinfonía.

Since Part 1 implies a second part, I figured I’d add one.

Some other things that are nice to do in the rain are sight-reading a Beethoven clarinet trio and playing in an opera rehearsal. At least, that’s what I did with my rainy day the other day. It probably would have been a little more interesting if I had been able to actually be outside for most of it, instead of cooped up in the music building, but it was still lovely nonetheless.

So the other day I decided to work on my Wuthering Heights paper in the library like a good, diligent student. Little did I know that I happened to be sitting right next to the section of the library with the old school musicology journals from the mid 1900s called “Music and Letters”. After scanning a few for topics that particularly interested me, I read a particularly neat article about Tchaikovsky’s death. It’s pretty widely known that Tchaikovsky was gay, and this one was of the reasons that he lead such a sad and difficult life. This article explored the details of the controversy surrounding his death, the cause of which, although commonly accepted to be suicide, is not 100% clear.

It referred to his homosexuality as “unnatural” many times throughout, which made me think a lot about semantics and the way that we use words like this. It’s funny, because nowadays there are whole books dedicated to queer musicology (I would know, because I have two of them sitting on my desk), whereas some of the contributors to these older journals characterized it as unnatural. Hopefully the author was trying to say that it was considered unnatural in Tchaikovsky’s era, but I’m not sure… I wouldn’t count on it.

In other news, the joint forces of mosaicus will soon be reunited after returning to home base from our respective institutions of higher education! Will society be able to handle this much bloggerificness (you bet I just went there) in one place? Outlook unknown. Will update further when a definitive conclusion is reached.

- cjs

I was in Target this morning to get a flu shot (my arrrrrm hurrrrrrts) and they had a gigantic display of Christmas trees, Hannukah sweaters for dogs (I swear), and other holiday decorations. As I mentioned, Starbucks cups are all printed with snowflakes and other holiday icons. We have a pile of holiday catalogues at my house, and of course the TV commercials are already holiday-centric.

Therefore I declare that this “the holiday season doesn’t start until the day after Thanksgiving” rule is sheer nonsense, and as such I feel entirely justified in posting my holiday mix now. It’s mostly classical music centered but I did sneak one or two not-technically-classical songs in there just because they make me smile.

I picked out my personal favorite bits of The Nutcracker that feel especially holiday-ish to me, but it was REALLY hard to decide. You can certainly include the whole thing; I know I do!

I also avoided most Christmas carols because you can select your favorites yourself; the one exception is my own favorite, and it comes with several caveats, as you will see. Enjoy!

1. “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah
2. The Nutcracker: Scene 1, Overture, by Tchaikovsky
3. The Nutcracker: Scene 3, Children’s Galop and Arrival of the Guests, by Tchaikovsky
4. The Nutcracker: Scene 8, Journey through the Pine Forest, by Tchaikovsky
5. The Nutcracker: Scene 9, Waltz of the Snowflakes, by Tchaikovsky
6. The Nutcracker: Scene 12, Divertissements, by Tchaikovsky (this covers all the candies/countries, depending on which version you’re watching; I myself prefer the Baryshnikov)
7. The Nutcracker: Scene 14, Variation 2: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, by Tchaikovsky
8. “What’s This?” from The Nightmare Before Christmas
9. Carnival of the Animals, “Aquarium” (VII), by Saint-Saens
10. “For Unto Us a Child is Born” from Handel’s Messiah
11. Lieutenant Kije Suite, 4th Movement (“Troika”), by Prokofiev
12. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” ONLY AS SUNG BY JUDY GARLAND, and none of this “hang a shining star upon the highest bow” crap; THOSE ARE NOT THE LYRICS. Thank you.

The lives of the great composers
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780.922

Even I could scarcely believe my ears.

Much has been written and said, by me and others, about the clarity and acoustic detail possible in downtown’s Bijou Theatre.  But those in the audience for last Sunday’s Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra concert of Serenades for Strings certainly needed no reminder.

KSO Resident Conductor James Fellenbaum, impressively conducting from memory without scores, made his debut as conductor of a KSO subscription series concert. He drew from the orchestra on all three works on the program a deeply satisfying performance, with passionate extremes of Romantic era dynamics, organic tempos, and bold assertiveness. From the tiniest sound of bow barely touching string to a lushness that reverberated through the hall, the orchestra brought an amazing degree of instrumental detail to every single seat. However, that same clarity and detail can have a downside—but more on that a bit later.

The selection of works—Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E Minor, op. 20; Josef Suk’s Serenade in E-flat Major for Strings, op. 6; and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra, op. 48—covered a varied pastoral landscape that revealed how a composer’s geographical environment can become a part of their individual distinctive style.  While a freshness and sparkle coursed through them all, each one seemed to describe its own particular national landscape—English, Czech, and Russian—in their own particular terms.

The concert opened with Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E-minor, op. 20.  While the opening Allegro piacevole hurried along its way as if on a familiar woodland path, it was the middle Larghetto that seemed to be the forest clearing where a solitary figure pauses in reflection until fading into a resigned melancholy—before turning back down the path in the Allegretto.

The orchestra ventured a little deeper into the sun-dappled woods with the Suk, a more complex piece than the Elgar, but entirely friendly and conversational. The waltz-like second movement is a flirtatious courtship between string sections.  That romance turns serious in the Adagio third movement, where heartfelt and amorous glances are exchanged.  The orchestra really breathed life into the changing tempos of the finale movement.

The Tchaikovsky is certainly in a different league than the Elgar and Suk in all the ways that Serenades are intended to communicate.  Both in harmonic density and melodic invention, the images it projects are richer, deeper, yet more abstract, and, in many ways, more enduring. The third movement, the Élégie, with its little fugue-like moments between the orchestra’s sections, was a beautiful example of ensemble playing that was truly inspired.

Yes…the Bijou’s acoustics that can delight listeners with clarity and detail,  can also easily reveal the tiniest and subtlest of performance bobbles.  And in a chamber-size ensemble of twenty or so players, there is simply no place to hide intonation issues, even occasional ones from otherwise excellent players. If expectations weren’t so high for this excellent ensemble and their passionate performance,  it really wouldn’t have mattered.

Al escuchar la admirable obra del compositor ruso Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) “El Lago de los Cisnes”, me viene a la mente la historia de amor de Sigfrido y Odette y el  famoso ballet de cuatro actos compuesto por Richard Wagner que nos cuenta su historia.

Rodeado de amigos, el príncipe Sigfrido celebra su veintiún cumpleaños en los jardines de su castillo, cuando llega la reina, madre de Sigfrido para recordarle que ha preparado una fiesta al día siguiente con el propósito de escoger esposa. Las más bellas muchachas estarán invitadas a la fiesta para que el joven elija una de ellas. Pero esto le causa gran melancolía a Sigfrido y, sus amigos deciden distraerle invitándole a ir de caza. Llegan a un hermoso bosque y cuando se acercan al lago comienzan a salir de las aguas unos cisnes que se van convirtiendo en hermosas jóvenes. Sigfrido apunta con su ballesta hacia las jóvenes cisnes, cuando aparece su reina, Odette y le cuenta que fue transformada en cisne junto con sus compañeras por el malvado mago Rothbart, que sólo por la noche vuelven a su forma humana y que el hechizo solo puede romperse cuando le juren amor eterno. Los jóvenes se enamoran rápidamente, pero cuando Sigfrido va a jurarle amor eterno a Odette, aparece Rothbart, quien hace que las jóvenes vuelvan a convertirse en cisnes para evitar que el príncipe rompa el hechizo. Antes de que se marche Odette, Sigfrido le pide que asista al baile que se realizará en castillo la noche siguiente y Odette se aleja convertida en cisne.

Comienza la fiesta en el castillo donde Sigfrido deberá elegir esposa; entra la reina madre junto a Sigfrido y comienza el festejo. Se presentan una a una las jóvenes candidatas y la reina madre le pide a su hijo que elija esposa. Él piensa en Odette y se niega a escoger, por lo cual su madre se enfada con él. En ese momento el maestro de ceremonias anuncia la llegada de un noble desconocido y su hija; es el barón Rothbart y su hija Odile. El príncipe hechizado por el mago, cree ver a Odette en Odile y la escoge como esposa. La reina madre acepta y Sigfrido le jura a Odile amor eterno; Rothbart se descubre y muestra a Odette a lo lejos, Sigfrido se da cuenta de su terrible error y corre desesperado hacia el lago. A las orillas del lago las jóvenes cisnes esperan tristes la llegada de Odette. Ella llega llorando y les está contando a sus amigas los acontecimientos de la fiesta en el castillo cuando aparece Sigfrido y le implora su perdón. Reaparece Rothbart reclamando el regreso de los cisnes. Sigfrido y Odette luchan contra él, pero todo es en vano pues el hechizo no puede ser deshecho. Los dos enamorados se lanzan al lago y Rothbart muere a consecuencia de ese sacrificio de amor siendo los otros cisnes liberados del maleficio. Segundos después, se ve aparecer sobre el lago los espíritus de Odette y Sigfrido ya juntos para siempre.

En otra versión de igual manera la reina madre prepara una fiesta para celebrar el veintiún cumpleaños de su hijo, el príncipe Sigfrido. Mientras su madre le está comunicando su decisión que debe escoger esposa en la fiesta, Sigfrido divisa unos blancos cisnes en el lago, toma su ballesta y les persigue en la noche, les observa con admiración, cuando un bello cisne se acerca y se transforma en una bella joven. La joven le cuenta que es la Princesa Odette, que ha sido hechizada junto con sus compañeras a permanecer de día en forma de cisne y que al llegar la noche regresan a ser su ser. Siendo el causante del encantamiento el brujo Rothbart, encantamiento que sólo podrá ser roto si alguien le jura amor. De pronto, el brujo aparece, Sigfrido se dispone a disparar al brujo, cuando Odette le dice que si le mata nunca podrá romperse el embrujo. Sigfrido le jura amor eterno a Odette, advirtiéndole ella que si rompe su promesa permanecerá siempre siendo un cisne. Pasan el resto de la noche juntos, al amanecer, Odette regresa al lago y nuevamente se convierte en cisne. El príncipe baila con las candidatas que su madre ha invitado a la fiesta sin poder dejar de pensar en Odette, cuando, de pronto, llegan dos personas que no habían sido invitadas, Rothbart y su hija Odile disfrazados. Sigfrido se asombra por el parecido de Odile con Odette. Rothbart le convence  que Odile es la amada que ha escogido y le obliga a jurarle amor eterno. Rothbart y Odile se marchan. Al aparecer Odette junto a sus damas, Sigfrido se da cuenta que ha sido engañado, Odette perdona a Sigfrido por su inconsciente traición y los amantes deciden permanecer unidos hasta la muerte;  Rothbart destruye el castillo y tras la pareja levantando una tormenta para impedir que se marchen, pero el amor de Odette y Sigfrido es más poderoso que su magia y al tiempo que se lanzan al lago, Rothbart es destruido.

Just for the hell of it…

Contemptible though it may be regarded by some trendy critics, I really miss this neo-vernacular, “progressive” or “art rock” style of music.

In my previous post I discussed the holidays and having memories of going to see ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet. At the end of my post, I left off with the most important aspect of of the ballet. The significance of this work of art is tremendous, not only because the music was written by Tchaikovsky, but because of the era that it was written in…

First, we will start with Tchaikovsky and a short bio: Russian born, Tchaikovsky lived from 1840 to 1893. In 1862, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory (against the wishes of his parents). He is one of the most well known composers of the Romantic era of classical music. When writing music, his phenomenal talent spanned from opera, ballet, symphony, and orchestra. Among many other works, he is credited with the ‘1812 Overture’, music for ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘The sleeping Beauty’ ballets, and ten operas. In 1891, Tchaikovsky began to write the music for ‘The Nutcracker’.

Tchaikovsky was a popular composer of the Romantic era of music (1820 – 1900). Classical music of this era was more energetic and passionate than the Classicism period before it (1750 – 1820). The Romantic era of classical music offered more grand ensembles and freer orchestration. As a side note, this new and more expressive era of music allowed composers to distinguish themselves from one another (based on form and so forth). During this time, the Industrial Revolution was thriving. Russian society at the time had been traditionally very strict: the arts were a very important methods of free thought. Russians began to incorporate Western ideals.

In 1892, Tchaikovsky finished the music for ‘The Nutcracker’. The first performance of the ballet was held on December 18, 1892. The first complete version that was held in the United States took place in 1944, by the San Francisco Ballet. To date, it continues to entertain thousands. Now that you know the storyline of the ballet, a bit about Tchaikovsky, and a little about the Romantic era of classical music; can you connect the dots?

The story, the composer, and the era all combined create perfection. There is perfect harmony of the three, and all three had to be present in order to succeed. If you have not seen ‘The Nutcracker’, please do so. And take your children as well. My first viewing took place when I was seven. I loved it. The costumes/characters make the experience fun for kids. The music and graceful dancers entertain the parents. I have probably seen it about twelve times and it has not gotten old. Whether going for the first time, or going again, go home after and ponder the significance of the fact that a union of three is what created a masterpiece.

For my family, the first part of November marks the beginning of the holiday season. This means a large increase in phone calls to one another since most of my family resides in five different states. There is nothing better than free long distance phone calls when it comes to the holidays. So far, my family and I have already discussed Thanksgiving and Christmas menus, along with decorating ideas, and who is going where. The holidays is also all about tradition in my family (as it is with a great deal of families around the world). For instance, everyone in my family has always been allowed to open a single ‘teaser’ present on Christmas Eve. And growing up, we always attended ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet.

‘The Nutcracker’ has been around for many years but I am shocked when I see just how many people don’t know the story of the ballet. For those of you that don’t know, here is a brief synopsis…

‘The Nutcracker And The King of Mice’ was written by a German
author named Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann in 1816.
Alexandre Dumas, a French writer, later completed a revised
version of the story. In 1891, ballet dancer and choreographer,
Marius Petipa came up with the brilliant idea of turning the story
into a ballet. ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet that we see today is based
on Dumas’ revision of Hoffmann’s original version. And from the
start of the ballet, we begin to hear the beautiful sounds of
classical music being played by the orchestra.

‘The Nutcracker’ story opens with a Christmas party. At the
party, a girl is given the gift of a nutcracker, which her jealous
brother breaks. It is then repaired and left under the Christmas
tree. Later in the evening, the girl goes downstairs to get her
nutcracker; and falls asleep under the tree with it. At midnight,
the girl is transformed into the same size as her nutcracker
(which, along with all the other toys under the tree, comes to
life). A mouse king and his army of mice fight the nutcracker and
his army of soldiers. After the mouse king is defeated, the
nutcracker turns into a prince. He takes her to the Land of Snow
and the Land of Sweets and the audiences gets to gaze
upon many wonderful dance scenes. In the end, the girl awakens
from her dream.

The link between classical music and this ballet is that the music was written by Tchaikovsky. There is an even deeper significance to Tchaikovsky and ‘The Nutcracker’…..

Yesterday I got a lovely email from an old friend, reminding me of a piece of music we both used to love: Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto.  I used to play a very much simplified version of it on the piano, and she liked it so much she would call it “her song.”  Such a beautiful piece!  Thank you, my dear friend, for letting me take a trip down memory lane!

Here’s the first section of the first moment, performed by Martha Argerich:

Seguimos teniendo tantos quilombos en todas partes, mas hijos, nuevos políticos, partidos de futbol y cuestiones personales que algunas veces, dan ganas de reaccionar…

Personalmente la madrugada del 5 de Noviembre puede ser considerada como un grito de rebeldía y libertad, sucesos inesperados que abren tus ojos ante la vida que te dice “Mirá loca.. Estoy acá y no voy a ningún lado sin vos”.

Hechos de terceros que dan ganas de reventar autos, casas, edificios, ciudades, personas… Todo. Una manifestación de Guy Fawkes en el interior de muchas personas, una necesidad de explosión… Rabia.

Remember, remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and plot.

I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent to blow up the King and the Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below, Poor old England to overthrow: By God’s providence he was catch’d

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip hoorah! A penny loaf to feed the Pope.

A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down.

A ****** of sticks to burn him. Burn him in a tub of tar.

Burn him like a blazing star. Burn his body from his head.

Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah! Hip hip hoorah

V for Vendetta – Alan Moore.

Y este post no tiene absolutamente nada. Este post es solo para recordar el 5 de Noviembre tal y como lo propone Alan Moore en V for Vendetta… Este post va dedicado a la rabia y la frustración… Eso que hay que sentir, el yang, la oscuridad… Porque si no hay una cosa no hay otra.

Con este post los invito a poner un grito al cielo… Y salir de los cabales. Explotar una ciudad. O simplemente, expresarse mas abajo…

Demasiados quilombos para un país tan chico, demasiado denso para pocas personas. Sí… Los invito a estar enojados, hay motivos, y no tiene nada de malo manifestar una disconformidad.

Los invito a compartir su lado oscuro, su lado V.

Solo por el 5 de Noviembre. =)

Go ahead, all you twenty-five and over people, with your dusty tubas and buried clarinets from high school band. Pick up your old instrument and squeak out a few notes. Remember, if you keep making that face, it’ll freeze like that. Why don’t you schedule in some practice time?

You’ll want to, what with the opportunity now available to all those over the age of twenty-five: you can play a concert with the BSO!

No, really! It’s called Rusty Musicians with the BSO and it invites all lapsed musicians who are twenty-five or older to play with the orchestra in a few rehearsals and then a concert at Strathmore on February 2, 2010. You get to play the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4! I mean, that’s supposing you’re at least twenty-five. Imagine: sitting in the middle of all that wonderful sound, part of it.

So go on. Register, bust out your old piccolo or whatever it is you play (assuming its part of standard orchestration) and get crackin,’ Mr. and Mrs. I Can Rent A Car Without Paying an Extra Fee. Meanwhile I, an outcast at the fetal age of twenty-three, will be over here, sulking.

P. S. It costs $10 to participate, but I will pay you TWICE that to forge me a new birth certificate.

Title: The Timpani Player’s Orchestral Repertoire Volumes 1-6

Author: Fred D. Hinger

Description: Fred Hinger’s The Timpani Player’s Orchestral Repertoire Volumes 1-6 cover the symphonic works of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Strauss, and Stravinsky. Each volume contains complete orchestral timpani parts plus Mr. Hinger’s detailed notes and comments of their execution. All for less than the individual parts alone.

Categories: Orchestral Repertoire, Timpani

Annotated by Greg Simonds

Que gran genio

]]> http://etonmess.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/igor-stravinsky-conducts-l%e2%80%99oiseau-de-feu/ Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:49:12 +0000 Robin Gosnall http://etonmess.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/igor-stravinsky-conducts-l%e2%80%99oiseau-de-feu/

Here are some of Stravinsky’s thoughts on other composers, taken from Robert Craft’s less than reliable book Conversations with Igor Stravinsky:

I remember seeing Mahler in St. Petersburg. His concert there was a triumph. Rimsky was still alive, I believe, but he wouldn’t have attended because a work by Tchaikovsky was on the programme (I think it was Manfred, the dullest piece imaginable). Mahler also played some Wagner fragments and a symphony of his own. Mahler impressed me greatly, himself and his conducting.

I would like to admit all Strauss operas to whichever purgatory punishes triumphant banality. Their musical substance is cheap and poor; it cannot interest a musician today. I am glad that young musicians today have come to appreciate the lyric gift in the songs of the composer Strauss despised, and is more significant in our music than he is: Gustav Mahler.

David Hurwitz at Classics Today reviewed the recent CD release of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski on the LPO label:

The secret to Jurowski’s success in both works lies in his ability to give the music time to achieve the maximum intensity while using pointed rhythm and characterful phrasing to avoid any suggestion of sluggishness. The result is the sheer brute force that we have every right to expect, without a trace of vulgarity or straining after effect.”

More information and to buy the CD – £9.99 incl P&P direct from the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Full LPO Label CD Catalogue

Monday 2nd November 7:30pm

at Symphony Hall

Renée Fleming soprano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Dutoit conductor

Prokofiev Suite, Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin
Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet
Leoncavallo Svaria sulla bocca viva from La Boheme
Leoncavallo Pinson la biondetta from La Boheme
Giordano Nella suo amore from Siberia
Puccini Sola perduta, abandonata from Manon Lescaut

There are few more famous divas than soprano Renée Fleming, whose fame has soared into realms normally reserved for pop music superstars. The effortless ease of her distinctive tone brings a breathtaking sheen to every note she sings. She returns to Symphony Hall after a break of six years in a programme on the theme of love. www.thsh.co.uk

Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall, says of tonight’s recommended concert: “Renée Fleming is undoubtedly a soprano in a league of her own. The double Grammy winner is an outstanding solo performer. Don’t miss this chance to catch this world-class singer live.”

Review by David Hart, Birmingham Post:

http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2009/11/04/review-ren-e-fleming-royal-philharmonic-orchestra-at-symphony-hall-65233-25091167/

“Real passion and commitment came later. The section leading up to the Death of Tybalt displayed palpably thrilling sonorities, while in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture (just imagine what a Tchaikovsky ballet, or even opera on this subject might have been like) Dutoit avoided any suggestion of warhorse posturing, building climaxes in a purposefully expressive way and keeping the love theme under control right up to its final, poignant appearance in the coda.”

Review by Geoff Read, Seen and Heard UK

http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2009/Jul-Dec09/Fleming_0211.htm

…”The final scheduled aria was Sola, perduta, abbandonata, from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut: Fleming had saved the best for last, demonstrating why she has reached her star status. At last, we had an aria that displayed drama and passion with orchestra and soloist on the same wavelength.”…

Thu 29 Oct 7:30pm at Symphony Hall

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Jakub Hrusa conductor
Nicola Benedetti violin

Janáček Taras Bulba
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Dvořák Symphony No 7

Style and authenticity just ooze from the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Dvořák himself conducted this orchestra’s first concert and the highlight of tonight’s programme is his grandly tragic Seventh Symphony. Superstar of the violin, Nicola Benedetti, is a regular visitor to Symphony Hall and joins the orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s heart-warming Violin Concerto.

Review by Maggie Cotton, Birmingham Post:

http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2009/11/02/review-czech-philharmonic-orchestra-at-birmingham-symphony-hall-65233-25066687/

“Impeccable woodwind, exquisite flute solo and careful accompanying from conductor Jakub Hrusa were perfect partners for muted violin, leading to a formidable finale taken at a spanking pace… 4/5″

Sí, porque si de canciones de nuestra vida hablamos, la música clásica ocupa un papel muy importante en la mía. La “culpa”?: Mi padre, unos altavoces en el pasillo (testigo de innumerables partidos de fútbol, carreras de coches, de chapas y de todos los juegos que caben en la imaginación de un niño) y una inmensa colección de Deustche Grammofon.

Así, día tras día, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Strauss y tantos otros acompañaban mis juegos y, poco a poco, uno iba reconociendo obras, prefiriendo unas a otras. Y sin duda, un de mis favoritos fue Tchaikovsky y su Obertura 1812. Y si además te explican que narra la invasión de las tropas napoleónicas de Rusia, y su posterior derrota (esos cañones finales, esas notas de La Marsellesa para simbolizar al ejército francés). Toda una lección de historia de la mano de la música.