The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky in 1892
Choreographed by	Marius Petipa Lev Ivanov
Composed by	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto by	Ivan Vsevolozhsky Marius Petipa
Based on	E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
Date of premiere	18 December 1892
Place of premiere	Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg
Original ballet company	Mariinsky Ballet
Characters	Clara Drosselmeyer Nutcracker Prince Mouse King Sugar Plum Fairy
Designs by	M. I. Botcharov K. M. Ivanov Ivan Vsevolozhsky
Setting	Act 1: Christmas Eve in 19th century Germany Act 2: The Land of Sweets
Genre	Fairy tale
Type	Classical ballet

The Nutcracker is a classical ballet in two acts. It is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's 1816 fairy tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It tells the story of a little girl who goes to the Land of Sweets on Christmas Eve. Ivan Vsevolozhsky and Marius Petipa adapted Hoffmann's story for the ballet. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the music. Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov designed the dances. The Nutcracker was first performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 18 December 1892 to a modest success and rarely seen the next years.

In 1940, Walt Disney used some of the Nutcracker music in his animated movie Fantasia, which led to an interest in the ballet. Interest grew when George Balanchine's The Nutcracker was televised in the late 1950s. The ballet has been performed in many different places since then. Before the first performance, Tchaikovsky took some numbers from the ballet to form the Nutcracker Suite. This work was a great success on the concert stage, and is still played today.