Ballet Composer Profile: Pyotr Tchaikovsky | Part 2
“Music is an incomparably more powerful means and is a subtler language for expressing the thousand different moments of the soul’s moods.”
The Sleeping Beauty (1889)
It was in the winter of 1888 that Tchaikovsky was commissioned by Ivan Vsevelozhsky- then the Director of the Imperial Theatres- to compose the music for a new ballet scenario, The Sleeping Beauty. Vsevelohsky had written the libretto himself basing it upon Perrault’s original story ‘La Belle au Bois Dormant’.
Tchaikovsky leapt at the commission, despite recognising that his first ballet- Swan Lake- hadn’t been received all that well. Some suppose it may have been a welcome diversion at this point in his career, where performances of his music- mostly his Fifth Symphony- were not receiving the praise that he had hoped. Therefore, he dove into this project and in just over a month had sketched out a musical draft for each of the three acts of the ballet. However, it wasn’t until June (1889) that Tchaikovsky could orchestrate and complete the score due to a period of touring and travels through Europe before returning to Russia. Nevertheless, by the end of the summer it was complete and he was delighted with the result.
It was Marius Petipa who was commissioned to do the choreography for the ballet. On receiving the completed score from Tchaikovsky, Petipa played it over and over again on the piano until he had completely absorbed the music, often talking it through with Tchaikovsky, before continuing to develop the choreography. Unlike the relationship between Reisinger and Tchaikovsky which had been tenuous and strained during the creation of Swan Lake; the relationship between Petipa and Tchaikovsky was far more felicitous and a great example of true collaboration between a composer and choreographer.
The Sleeping Beauty was premiered on the 15th January 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. There had been a gala rehearsal the previous day, to which the Tsar had attended, and his opinion of the music had been perceived as ‘rather cold’ by Tchaikovsky. This initially threw the composer into a bleak mood and he left Russia shortly after the first public performance. Nevertheless the reception of The Sleeping Beauty was far better than Swan Lake, and soon it became a firm favourite of the Marinsky Theatre, receiving over 200 performances.
The Sleeping Beauty is Tchaikovsky’s longest ballet running at around 3 hours without intermission, meaning it is almost always cut. It is also a score that is often seen as quite a departure in style for Tchaikovsky, who was often seen as a little ‘morbid’ and ‘sombre’ both as a man and as a composer. In contrast this ballet is full of delightful and tuneful themes and melodies certainly portraying the magical fairyland in which the ballet is set. In his own appraisal, Tchaikovsky stated that this score was among his finest works, and was a beloved favourite of his.
The Nutcracker (1892)
The Nutcracker is a two act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. Again the commission came from Ivan Vsevolozhsky who was inspired by the success of The Sleeping Beauty. The assignment didn’t only include the ballet , but also an opera under the name of ‘Iolanta’. Both the ballet and opera would be performed as a double-bill.
The original Nutcracker story came from the ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’ by E.T.A. Hoffmann, however it was actually an adaptation of that story, titled ‘The Story of a Nutcracker’ by Alexandre Dumas that was used to create The Nutcracker ballet, chosen by Vsevolozhsky.
The collaboration between Petipa and Tchaikovsky was very much led by Petipa this time around. Petipa gave Tchaikovsky strict instructions for each dance and section of the ballet, stating how many bars were needed and what the tempo should be. Therefore, it is safe to say the Tchaikovsky was given very little creative control throughout the development of the production.
The Nutcracker was premiered on the 17th December, 1892 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Unfortunately, the ballet was not praised well and instead considered a failure by both the critics and the public. However, it seems that criticisms of the ballet seemed to focus on the fact that the libretto wasn’t true to the original, and that there were aspects of the choreography that were deemed ‘confusing’ or ‘disorderly’. Therefore, it is hard to see whether Tchaikovsky’s score was at all to blame for the ballet’s initial failure, or whether it was just victim to a bad presentation, as had also been the case for his score for Swan Lake. Unfortunately, for Tchaikovsky, he died less that a year after The Nutcracker’s premiere never being able to see how successful it would go onto become.
Similar to Swan Lake, The Nutcracker is now one of the most beloved ballets within the classical repertoire, receiving numerous performances every year and across the globe. Perhaps, the passing of time has changed the audience’s expectations, or maybe after over a century of rehearsals, re-choreography and tuition, these ballets have simply been practiced and honed to a level that surpasses what could be achieved before the premiere. It seems that many of the ballets that have truly stood the test of time, no matter how humble their beginnings, always have a magical score written specifically for the production- and The Nutcracker is one of them.
Truthfully, it seems that it was George Balanchine who brought The Nutcracker out of obscurity and into the light, with his reworked version in 1954, performed by The New York City Ballet. It was this production that cemented the ballet as a Christmas classic as we all know it to be today. In fact, I have a collection of quite a few vintage ballet books from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, and prior to the 50’s The Nutcracker was either omitted or criticised heavily, proving just what a fresh pair of eyes can do. We certainly owe a lot to Balanchine for saving it from being lost to time.
