Tchaikovksy's Nutcracker - 4th Grade

We discussed what the Nutcracker was and when it became a holiday tradition...
We learned that Tchaikovsky wasn't a huge fan of the ballet, the story and even HIS OWN MUSIC!  Tragic since it so beautiful!  He also died before learning how popular it became.

We listened to music from The Nutcracker as they created their own nutcrackers.

History:

Our story begins at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 18th, 1892. People have come to see the first performance of “The Nutcracker.” Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the music and Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov created the ballet’s dance movements.

The ballet was based on a story called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by the German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. The French writer Alexandre Dumas later rewrote Hoffman’s story. The ballet is based on this version by Dumas.

Tchaikovsky did not much like the ballet or story of “The Nutcracker.” He reportedly wrote to a friend that the music he was writing was far worse than the music for his earlier ballet, “The Sleeping Beauty.” Many of the people watching “The Nutcracker” that night did not like the ballet either and criticized it. But others praised the ballet for its music.

Tchaikovsky was one of the first major composers to use a new musical instrument called a celesta. He discovered the instrument during a visit to Paris. You can hear it in “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” It gives a special magic to this dance.

(MUSIC: “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”)

Tchaikovsky probably would not have believed that his ballet would one day become an international success. He did not live long enough to find out. He died in 1893 at the age of fifty-three.

In time, “The Nutcracker” was performed throughout Russia and the rest of Europe. The first performance in the United States was in 1940. The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo performed a shorter version of it in New York City. The first full-length performance was in 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet.

Following examples from Mr. Swanson's 4th Grade Class 2014-2015