The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Ballet is an enchanting instrument music that evokes a nostalgic celebratory atmosphere. The first act is based on the story of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King authored by Hoffman famously known for his music criticism. The music tells the story of a young girl that travels on Christmas Eve to the land of sweets. Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa designed the dances for The Nutcracker Ballet such as the Russian dance (trepak) and Arab dance (Conlon et al., 2013). The Nutcracker Ballet is a fairy tale that lasts for nearly 2 minutes.

            The plot of the story starts on the eve of Christmas in the magical house of a German family. Drosselmeyer who is also Fritz and Clara’s grandfather arrives and gives presents to the two children. Clara receives an ornate nutcracker doll that makes everyone happy and delighted during the party, except Fritz. Fritz breaks the doll because he is jealous. Still, Drosselmeyer fixes the doll magically. Later in the story, Clara falls asleep under the Christmas tree with the doll.

            In Cara’s dream, the dolls below the Christmas tree become alive Clara she shrinks. Army mice fill the room while Nutcracker and the mouse fight. Eventually, Nutcracker loses. In a desperate move, Clara throws her show to the Mouse King. He falls unconscious and he is dragged away by the mice army. Then, The Nutcracker transforms into a handsome prince and takes Clara to the land of Sweets.

            The costumes for The Nutcracker are colourful and characterized by fairy decorations including hundreds of hand-sewn beads. In addition, a hand-dried fabric is used to make a snowflake costume. The mise-en-scene for the music is a magical Christmas Eve party is a Saint-Petersburg mansion with children wearing their party costumes (Vagin, 2012). Furthermore, bright colours and lighting are used to express different worlds of Christmas Eve and magic.

In summary, The Nutcracker Ballet is a smooth-flowing light music that employs high parts of clever and orchestra combinations of woodwind musical instruments to enact a magical doll-like fantasy. The costumes and lighting used in Act One are intended to boost the musical performance and to support the musical story’s theme.

References

Conlon, M., Hoffmann, E. T. A., & Gershman, J. (2013). The Nutcracker Ballet. White Plains, N.Y: Peter Pauper Press.

Vagin, V. V. (2012). The Nutcracker Ballet. New York: Scholastic.