| THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO NUTCRACKER EVENTS. |
The Nutcracker, the Russian ballet composed by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1891 is based upon the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman. The magic of the ballet was created by Alexandre Dumas' adaptation of the story to the music of Tchaikovsky.
The story of The Nutcracker centers on a young German girl, Clara, and her gift she receives from her mysterious godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer. The godfather comes to the house of Clara for a Christmas party, strapped with gifts for all the children except for Clara. To relieve the saddened girl, her godfather conjures up a nutcracker that he gives the girl as a gift that she loves so much that she falls asleep underneath the Christmas tree with the nutcracker in her arms. The balletís adventurous story takes place within the dreams of Clara and results with her awakening in her same resting place of under the Christmas tree.
The current popularity of The Nutcracker is due in part to former ballet master William Christensen of the San Francisco Ballet. Christensen is responsible for bringing the works of the ballet to the US in 1944. The success of the ballet and the choreography for his own 1954 version had made the ballet a tradition in the US.
The musical score of the ballet is to date Tchaikovsky's more popular. The score belongs to the Romantic tradition and contains such favorites as The Trepak (Russian Dance), the Waltz of Flowers and March, and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The original ballet is ninety minutes long but there are newer modern staged performances where there are alterations of some of the music. Some of the most famous versions of the ballet have had the order of the dances slightly re-arranged when the music isn't altered.
