The Nutcracker - Laurel County Schools

1 LexingtonRalletLuis K-minguir; | Artist*: C'tt*:K<<The NutcrackerDecember 2011 Teacher's Study GuideAll rights reserved. Lexington Ballet CompanyThe PlotThere are many versions of the basic Nutcracker story since its original production in1891. The Lexington Ballet's version is as follows:Nuremburg, Germany, Late Napoleonic EraACT1A wicked sorcerer, seeking revenge for being turned into a king of rats, has turned the nephew of his antagonist,the mysterious Herr Drosselmeyer, into a plain Nutcracker doll. To break the spell, the Nutcracker has to defeatthe Rat King and make a young princess fall in love with him. Drosselmeyer decides that his goddaughter,Marie, would be the perfect girl to help him get his nephew Christmas Eve, Marie's family (Doctor and Frau Stahlbaum and Marie's brother Fritz) throws a party wherethere is much dancing, gift giving and story telling, including the grizzled Baron spinning tales of courage of hisyoungest soldiers and adventures in foreign lands.

2 The enigmatic Herr Drosselmeyer suddenly arrives at theparty and entertains everyone with a show of life-like mechanical dancing dolls. He then gives Marie theNutcracker doll. During the party, Marie's brother Friz breaks her beloved Nutcracker doll. Drosselmeyerrepairs the doll, but the party comes to an everyone leaves and the Stahlbaum family goes to bed for the night, Marie sneaks downstairs in concernfor her Nutcracker doll. She falls asleep beside him and begins to dream. Meanwhile, the Rat King and hissinister army of rodents come to destroy the Nutcracker doll. Marie awakens and the Nutcracker doll comes tolife along with Fritz's toy soldiers. After a long and hard battle and with the help of Marie, they defeat the Drosselmeyer comes and transforms Marie into a charming princess who is able to see the Nutcracker forwho he really is - a courageous, good-hearted young man.

3 Marie and her Nutcracker Prince travel into amagical world beginning in a land of dancing IIMarie and the Nutcracker Prince, fresh from their victory over the evil sorcerer, continue their journey into theLand of Sweets where the Sugarplum Fairy and her Cavalier have planned a magical party in their honor. At theparty, performers from faraway places dance for them and show them the exotic flavors that exist in the Land ofSweetsFollowing, the celebration, Marie and Drossehnejer's nephew return to reality. Drosselmeyer discovers that thespell has been broken and his wish of getting his nephew baek is NutcrackerThe ComposerPeter Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) composed The Nutcracker , one of the world's best-known ballets.

4 Generally remembered as a composer of symphonies and ballets,Tchaikovsky's music also includes stage works, major compositions for orchestra,music for orchestra and solo instruments, chamber music, piano pieces, approximately100 songs, church music, cantatas, and other choral works. Some of "Tchaikovsky'sbest-loved music is that of the stage, which comprised 1 1 operas, 3 ballets and 2 works of incidentals music. Allthree ofhis ballets, including Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, are in the standard repertoire of many balletscompanies, but perhaps none are so familiar lor its music as The Nutcracker , which, although not conceived asChristmas music, is heard everywhere this time of year.

5 "Casse-Noisette" (cass-nwa-/.et). or The Nutcracker , was first presented on December 7, 1892 at the MaryinskyTheatre in St. Petersburg. Russia. In what may well have been a preview of coming attraction, a concert suitefrom the upcoming Christmas-theme ballet was heard in March of the year the llrst ballet was performed. Thisadvanced hearing created a bit of a sensation, for it was in this suite Tchaikovsky introduced the silvery tone ofthe celesta to create the magical mood of the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Tairy." The instruments, brought fromParis under great secreacy, achieved maximum effect at first hearing. The Nutcracker Suite quickly settled intoorchestral repertoire and went on to become an international favorite.

6 Tchaikovsky died during a choleraepidemic within a year of the tlrsl performance of The ChoreographersMarius Petipa (1818-1910) was the foremost choreographer of classical ballets inlate 19th-centruy Russia and one of the most influential choreographers of all (pet-e-pa) was born in Trance and came to St. Petersburg as a young man todance at the Maryinsky Theater. The ballet school of the Maryinsky 'Theatrebecame one of the best ballet Schools in the world and its dance company a rival toMoscow's Bolshoi Ballet as the premier dance company in Russia. After someyears of dancing with the St. Petersburg Ballet. Petipa began to choreography ballets for the company.

7 By the1890s, and his association with Tchaikovsky. Petipa had been choreographing ballets from the MaryinskyTheater ballet for almost 30 years. The first collaboration between Petipa and Tchaikovsky was SleepingBeauty, which debuted at the Maryinsky Theater in 1890. Its success provided the composer with the scenarioand general outline of the action to be seen in The Nutcracker ballet. I lowcver, Petipa entrusted the finalchoreography to his assistant Lev [\anov ( ). No one knows how much of the ballet is owing to whichman. Dance scholars today often attribute the ballet to Ivanov, but there is no doubt that the original conceptionof the ballet, to which Tchaikovsky wrote his score, was Petipa' StoryThe story of The Nutcracker is based on a fairy talc by Hoffman (1776-1822).]

8 A German writer who spcciali/ed in sophisticated fairy tales for loffman's macabre style later influenced such other masters of the macabre as theAmerican poet and short story writer Fdgar Allen Poe and the French symbolistpoet Charles Baudelaire. As was noted at the time of The Nutcracker ballet'sdebut in 1892, the ballet's version considerably toned down the occasionallygruesome imagery in Hoffman's original HistoryThe Nutcracker was performed exclusively in Russia until the Sadler Wells Ballet of London production in1934. In the fall of 1940. the Ballet Russes dc Monte Carlo introduced The Nutcracker Suite to Americanaudiences by performing the Divertissements of Act II.

9 A full-length production was not seen in this countryuntil 1944. performed by the San Francisco was not until 10 years later that the famed choreographer, George Balanchine. presented his interpretation ofThe Nutcracker with the New York City Ballet. It is Balanchine's production that caused The Nutcracker tobecome the most popular of all ballets and an annual holiday event, not only with the New York C'ity Ballet, butclassical ballet companies across the Lexington Ballet has been performing its version of The Nutcracker since 1 977. Balanchine's ballet wasdesigned to be performed by children; the original version had over 100 children on stage in the two acts.

10 Thistradition has also been preserved by The Lexington CostumesThe 1 ,e\ington Ballet's production of The Nutcracker has over 150 separate costumes and some years the ballethas been performed by as main as 120 children. The casts during the school shows are alwavs smaller thanthose used in the public performances. Our costumes were acquired from the London Festival Mallet more thana quarter century ago. Look especially for the Russian dancers in Act II. These costumes arc both veryelaborate and very heavy! Bach costume has to be hand-fitted to the dancer performing the role in this year'sproduction. Ballet costumes are different from the costumes used by theatre companies in that they have tospecially designed to allow the dancer maximum freedom of movement.