P. I. Tchaikovsky "The Nutcracker" Libretto by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilev based on the fairy tale by E. Hoffmann "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King".
Prologue
On Christmas Eve everything is covered in sparkling snow. The children of the Councilor of Medicine Stahlbaum, little Fritz, Marie, Louise and her fiancé Hans, along with other townspeople, rejoice at the upcoming holiday. It's evening. Everyone is in a hurry to celebrate. A gust of wind rips off the head of the Senior Councilor of the Court and the godfather - Drosselmeyer - a hat. He tries to catch her without dropping the wonderful gifts meant for the godchildren.
Act one
Picture one: "Yolka"
In the cozy house of the Stahlbaums, everything is ready for the holiday. Children are tired of waiting. Finally, at a sign from the father, the Christmas tree flashes with colored lights. Children are delighted with Christmas gifts. Fritz, who loves to march so much, got a gun, a saber, and a drum. Marie admires the lovely dress.
Adults put on masks and play out a fairy-tale performance in front of the children. Here is the ugly Myshilda (portrayed by Mr. Stahlbaum) approaching the beautiful Princess Pirlipat (Mr. Stahlbaum's wife) and seizing the moment, touches her lovely face. Oh God! Instantly, the Princess's face becomes old and ugly. Then the handsome Prince (Mr. Drosselmeyer) fearlessly rushes at Myshilda. Victory! The former beauty returns to the Princess. But, weakening, the ugly Mouse scratches the handsome Prince's face, and in front of everyone's eyes he becomes a freak with a huge mouth and protruding teeth! Princess Pirlipat refuses her savior's favor and turns her back on him.
Marie, carried away by the performance, forgets that it is a fairy tale, and with tears rushes to the unfortunate Nutcracker to console him. Drosselmeyer gives Marie and Fritz new toys - Dancing doll and Polichinelle. The old Broken Doll and Mishutka are trying to attract attention. The dolls, upset by the failure, want to leave, but Drosselmeyer returns them. Children try to introduce their pets to new toys. But what is it? The Nutcracker from a fairy tale just seen is dancing in front of the children. Marie joyfully rushes to him, but it turns out that it is Drosselmeyer who moves the hands and feet of the doll. The godfather gives the Nutcracker to Marie, and the warlike Fritz, wearing a mask of a nasty mouse, pretends to want to break the toy. A kind girl carefully puts the Nutcracker, along with other gifts, under the Christmas tree.
The Christmas dinner ends with the announcement of the engagement of Louise and Hans. Even grandparents came to congratulate the bride and groom. The holiday is over. The lovers hardly part with each other, the children reluctantly go to bed.
Scene 2: "Son Marie"
Marie appears in the dark living room to take another look at the wonderful Christmas tree and gifts. Marie falls asleep, and the Christmas tree begins to glow with a mysterious light, and the dolls come to life.
With the last stroke of the clock, angry mice peek out from under the tree one after another. The last to appear is a disgusting mouse with seven heads, each with a small crown. This is the Mouse Prince. His mother, the evil Queen Myshilda, wants to marry her son to Marie. Marie is horrified. She tries to run, but the seven-headed Mouse Prince catches her hand.
The revived brave Nutcracker, leading the Army of toys, enters into battle with mice. The Nutcracker stabs the Prince of Mice with his saber. Furious, Mouseilda rushes at the Nutcracker, but Marie, bravely defending her pet, throws a pillow at Mouseilda. The mice run away, and Marie and the Nutcracker are left alone.
Scene Three: "Snowy Glade"
Before our eyes, the Nutcracker turns into a handsome Prince. He confesses his love to Marie and leads her to a snowy forest clearing, where, at the sign of Drosselmeyer, snowflakes and snow flakes dance a waltz in honor of the lovers.
Action two
Scene 4: Journey along the Rose River
Marie's happy dream continues. Prince Charming leads her along. The couple in love is accompanied by Drosselmeyer. The danger has not yet passed: the treacherous Myshilda follows them. But Drosselmeyer does not let Myshilda near the lovers and drives her away.
The Prince and Marie are at the gates of the magical city of Confiturenburg. Four fabulous young men solemnly meet them. Mouseilda appears. The Prince fearlessly takes the fight and defeats her. He lays down a golden crown of mice at the feet of his beloved. At a sign from Drosselmeyer, a magical glow flashes, and the happy couple enter Confiturenburg.
Scene 5: "City of sweets - Confiturenburg"
The inhabitants of the magical city of sweets - Confiturenburg - arrange an unusual holiday for Marie and the Nutcracker Prince. Chocolate, Coffee, Tea are dancing for lovers, and after them - Santa Claus, the Snow Maiden and the Snowman, the Shepherds and the Chimney Sweep. Drosselmeyer starts dancing along with the inhabitants of Confiturenburg, whose dresses and camisoles are very similar to whipped cream. The engagement of Marie and the Nutcracker Prince ends with a magnificent waltz.
Epilogue
Christmas night passed, and with it, Marie's magical dream melted away. A new day has begun. Marie and Fritz play with the Nutcracker doll.
Senior Advisor Drosselmeyer appears. He is not alone - with him is his young nephew, who, like two drops of water, looks like the Nutcracker Prince from Marie's dream. The Nutcracker doll remains in Fritz's hands. Marie, fascinated, goes to meet the young Drosselmeyer, and he embraces her.
Childhood is over, they are on the threshold of youth. And who knows, maybe the dreams of a magical Christmas night will come true?
E. T. A. Hoffmann "The Nutcracker". Many of us are familiar with this fairy tale from early childhood, others learned about it through cartoons or attending a ballet. One way or another, the story of a prince turned into a toy is known to almost everyone. Let's talk about this work in more detail.
About the work
Hoffmann published the fairy tale story "The Nutcracker" in 1816 in the collection "Children's Tales". When creating the work, the writer was greatly influenced by the children of his friend, who bore the names of Marie and Fritz. That is how Hoffman called his main characters.
"The Nutcracker": a summary. tie
Outside on December 25, the children of Stahlbaum, the medical adviser, Marie and Fritz are sitting in their bedroom waiting for gifts that are under the tree in the living room. The girl eagerly wants to know what her godfather will come up with for her this year - he made a toy for Marie with his own hands for every Christmas. However, the girl understands that the gifts of her parents are much better, since they are not taken away immediately after the holiday.
Under the tree, children find many gifts. Among other things, Mari notices a toy designed to crack nuts, which was made in the form of a smartly dressed person. At this moment we get acquainted with the main character of the fairy tale "The Nutcracker". Summary, unfortunately, cannot convey the joy of the girl at the sight of this toy. Marie took him under her care and gave him only the smallest nuts to crack. However, Fritz specifically selected the largest and hardest, which led to damage to the toy. Then the girl hid the Nutcracker from Fritz and constantly carried it with her.
The appearance of the Mouse King
We continue to describe the summary of The Nutcracker. One evening, Marie plays with dolls for too long. Her brother goes to bed, the girl is left alone in the room. As the clock strikes midnight, a muffled rustle begins in the living room, mice appear from everywhere. A huge seven-headed mouse in crowns is selected from under the floor - the Mouse King. Marie is pressed against the wall in fright. The mouse army begins to attack her.
Marie breaks the closet door, which scares the rodents. But the broken cabinet immediately begins to glow. Toys come to life. The Nutcracker gathers an army and leads it into battle with mice.
The battle begins. At first, the army of toys is moving forward successfully. But gradually the mice begin to win. The toys take heavy casualties while their generals retreat. The Nutcracker is in the clutches of the enemy. The mouse king rushes at him, but Marie, wanting to save her favorite toy, throws her shoe right at the leader of the rodents.
After that, the girl loses consciousness.
Fairy tale
The work "The Nutcracker" tells the story of a little girl (a summary is presented in this article).
So Marie regains consciousness in her bed. Next to her is Dr. Wendelstern. A mother appears who scolds the girl for her willfulness. Marie learns that she was found in the blood among the scattered toys, and in her hand she was clutching the Nutcracker. Adults, having heard the girl's story about what happened at night, thought that she had dreamed everything.
Marie spends several days in bed. The godfather comes to the girl and brings the "cured" Nutcracker. He asks Marie to forget about mice and tell a story.
"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" has an interesting structure. In fact, this is a fairy tale within a fairy tale. Such a technique is characteristic only for a literary work and is impossible in folk art.
The story of the little princess Pirlipat begins. A holiday was being prepared in the kingdom, but the mice climbed into the storerooms and ate sausage lard. The court watchmaker Drosselmeyer set up mousetraps in which many rodents died. Then Myshilda, the mouse queen, turned the princess into an ugly creature. Then the court astrologer calculated that only the Krakatuk nut, which can only be split by a single young man, can restore the beauty of Pirlipat.
Drosselmeyer, along with the astrologer, soon found a nut. But not a single prince managed to gnaw it. Then Drosselmeyer's nephew got down to business. The young man helped the princess restore her beauty, but Myshilda prevented the end of the ceremony. The old mouse died, but turned the young man into the Nutcracker. The astrologer predicted that the young man's curse would end the moment a beautiful girl fell in love with him and he defeated the Mouse King.
Marie's torment
Marie believes that this story actually happened. Now she understands why the Nutcracker and the Mouse King had to fight. The Mouse King comes to the girl and begins to blackmail her, demanding sugar dolls and marzipan. Then Fritz offers his sister to borrow a cat from a baker for a while, and his father asks to simply arrange the mousetraps.
The Mouse King torments Mari again. He asks her to give him a beautiful Christmas dress and a picture book. Then the girl complains to the Nutcracker - soon she will have nothing left, and then she will have to give herself away. After that, the toy comes to life and asks not to worry about anything and get a saber for him. The next night, the Nutcracker challenges the Mouse King to a fight, wins, and gives Marie his seven crowns.
denouement
The tale "The Nutcracker" comes to an end. The protagonist in the guise of a doll leads Marie to a wardrobe, from where they enter a magical land. The Nutcracker takes the girl to the Pink Lake and introduces her to her beautiful sisters, whom she helps to grind golden nuts in a mortar.
Marie wakes up, her parents laugh at her bizarre dreams. Once, while talking with her godfather, the girl confesses that she would never have abandoned the Nutcracker because of her deformity. After these words, a crack is heard. In fright, the girl falls from her chair. The curse is broken. A beautiful young man appears before Marie, who proposes to her, and a year later they leave for the Doll Kingdom.
The heroine of the fairy tale "The Nutcracker"
Marie is a little girl who is full of compassion, kindness, determination and courage. She is the only one who manages to unravel the true nature of the Nutcracker. That is why Marie takes the toy under her protection. Sincere feelings of the girl save the main character.
On Christmas Eve, Stahlbaum, the medical adviser, gathers guests at his house. The owner himself and his wife with children - Marie and Franz, warmly welcome those who came to the holiday.
STEP ONE
In a cozy house, everything is ready for the holiday. Children are looking forward to Christmas gifts. The Christmas tree lit up with colorful lights, the dances of adults and children began. Parents give gifts to children. Suddenly, a masked stranger appears on the threshold of the living room. He takes it off, and everyone recognizes the good Drrosselmeyer, Marie's godfather. Drrosselmeyer shows tricks, and then takes out the Nutcracker and begins the story of the history of this doll.
The fairy tale is over, everyone applauds Drrosselmeyer. Marie asks to give her the Nutcracker. At that moment, Franz takes the doll away and breaks it. Drrosselmeyer drives the unbearable boy away, fixes the Nutcracker and gives it to Marie.
The festive evening ends, the last dance is performed - the grossvater. The guests disperse. The tree goes out. Marie sneaks into the empty living room to take another look at the Nutcracker left under the tree. Drosselmeyer appears as if by magic, along with the chiming of the clock.
Around everything begins to change: the tree grows, and with it the room turns into a huge hall. The Nutcracker and toys also grow and come to life. Suddenly, mice appear in the room, led by the Mouse King. They are opposed by the brave Nutcracker with a small army of Christmas decorations. The fight begins: The Nutcracker bravely fights the army of mice, but the forces are not equal. A little more ... and the Mouse King will prevail. Drrosselmeyer gives Marie a burning candle, which she, in desperation, throws at the Mouse King. At this time, the Nutcracker managed to free himself. He pierces the Mouse King with his saber, and the remnants of the "gray" army scatter in a panic in their holes. The enemy is defeated. The spell is broken: Marie sees the beautiful Prince in front of her.
Hand in hand, Marie and the Prince join the magical dance of snowflakes and rush through the starry sky to the kingdom of the Prince.
ACT TWO
Marie and the Prince admire the starry sky. Drrosselmeyer relentlessly follows them. The magic ball on which they fly descends in front of the walls of the fabulous city. Drrosselmeyer goes to the castle gates and opens them with a magic key, then disappears unnoticed. Marie and the Prince enter the throne room. They are met by the King, the Queen and a solemn retinue. The inhabitants of the magical city present gifts and arrange an unusual holiday, at the end of which Marie and the Prince dance.
Suddenly, the figure of Drrosselmeyer appears .... Everything froze: the walls of the castle disappear, the living room of the Stahlbaum house appears. In the corner of the room is a sleeping Marie with a Nutcracker doll. Waking up, the girl sees Drrosselmeyer. She runs up to him to thank him for the wonderful Christmas story.
P.I. Tchaikovsky ballet "The Nutcracker"
The most magical and New Year's work of P.I. Tchaikovsky, known throughout the world - the ballet "The Nutcracker". Often in classical operas or ballets there is one or several well-known numbers that become iconic for the work and are dearly loved by the public. You can't say the same about The Nutcracker, because the whole ballet consists of such "hits"! Perhaps this is the most recognizable work in the whole world. What is worth the bewitching Dance of the Dragee Fairy, the most delicate Waltz of Flowers, a series of dances: Chocolate, Coffee, Tea and many others. And which of the children, in the end, did not dream of being in the place of Marie and the Nutcracker in this fabulous place made of chocolate, caramel, marshmallows and other goodies ?!
A brief summary of Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" and many interesting facts about this work, read on our page.
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Characters |
Description |
| Stahlbaum | adviser of medicine, it is in his house that all events unfold |
| Marie | daughter of Stahlbaum, who received the Nutcracker as a gift |
| Fritz | Marie's brother who broke the Nutcracker at the party |
| Drosselmeyer | godfather Marie, who gave her the Nutcracker and told about the wonderful city |
| enchanted prince | |
| Fairy Dragee | ruler in the magical city of Confiturenburg |
| Prince Whooping Cough | a prince from a fairytale city meeting a girl and the Nutcracker |
| mouse king | the evil overlord of a hostile army of mice who attacked the Nutcracker |
Summary of The Nutcracker
The main events in the ballet unfold on the eve of a big and bright holiday - Christmas.
Guests gathered at Stahlbaum's house and godfather Marie, who came with a bunch of gifts for the children. Among them, a doll designed for chopping nuts, the Nutcracker, stands out noticeably. A rather clumsy toy with a wide smile immediately liked the girl Marie. All the children had already gone to bed, but she still could not part with the Nutcracker.
The girl played so much that she did not notice how everything around her began to change. The tree became huge and a strange rustle was heard. An army of mice appeared in the room, and the Nutcracker himself suddenly came to life, turning into a beautiful young man. He immediately gathered an army of soldiers and went to the enemy, but their forces were unequal. Marie, seeing this, decided to help the Nutcracker and threw her shoe at the Mouse King. The enemies were afraid of a sudden attack and fled.
When Marie woke up, her godfather appeared before her - Drosselmeyer, who appeared in the form of a wizard. He spoke about an amazing fairy-tale world, which is not easy to get into, overcoming a snow storm. But Marie and the Nutcracker go to this country. They find themselves in the wonderful city of Confiturenburg, where there are a lot of sweets and guests who meet them. The Pellet Fairy throws a lavish ball in their honor and Marie becomes a real princess after the Nutcracker tells how she saved him. When the celebration ends, the wizard helps Marie to return home from her wonderful journey.
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Interesting Nutcracker Facts
- Information has been preserved that at the first performance of the ballet at the Mariinsky Theater (December 1892), the audience was unusually surprised precisely by the power of the orchestra's sound. In particular, the musical instrument celesta attracted their attention.
- Starting with the performances of The Nutcracker, a tradition arose to give secondary roles to students of choreographic schools.
- Dance "Coffee" is based on a folk Georgian lullaby.
- According to the content of the German legend, nutcrackers bring good luck and protect the house. Therefore, these wooden mechanical dolls were popular as Christmas gifts for children.
- The Christmas tree, which is usually installed on the stage in the first act, weighs about a ton.
- During the gentle dance of snowflakes, confetti falls onto the stage, the total mass of which is about 20 kg.
- For the entire performance, about 150 different costumes are shown on stage.
- For the full operation of all equipment, applying makeup and changing costumes, about 60 people should be behind the scenes during the performance.
- Usually up to 700 lighting devices are used to illuminate the ballet.
- One pack of Fairy Dragee takes 7 layers of tulle.
- There is some confusion in the names of the girl (Marie, Masha or Clara). In fact, as stated in the original source, Clara is just a doll of a girl named Marihen. In the French manner, her name sounds like Marie, it is this version that went to the director of the Imperial Theaters Vsevolzhsky. In Soviet productions, starting from 1930, the ballet was Russified and the girl Marie was named Maria, and her brother became Misha. Also, the Christmas holiday was replaced by the New Year.
- Before starting to write the ballet, Tchaikovsky first completely wrote the plot from the words of Vsevolzhsky and only after that he began to compose music.
- The magical city of Confiturenberg from the second act was also invented by Vsevolzhsky.
- The largest nutcracker was made in Germany and was over 10 meters high.
- Frank Russell Galey performed the role of the Nutcracker at a record age of 74 years and 101 days.
Popular Nutcracker Numbers
Waltz of the Flowers (listen)
March from act I (listen)
Dance of the Dragee Fairy (listen)
Snowflake Waltz (listen)
Pas de de Marie and the Nutcracker - adagio (listen)
Music
Pyotr Ilyich embodies the theme already known to him in the ballet - overcoming hostile forces thanks to the power of love. Music is saturated with new expressive images. It is interesting to observe how expressiveness and figurativeness, vivid theatricality and the deepest psychologism are combined here.
The musical fabric of the ballet is very bright and full of strong, memorable numbers. So, before the scene of the growth of the Christmas tree from the first act, music of extraordinary expressiveness sounds. It begins ghostly, conveying mouse fuss. Gradually, it takes on a wider scope, transforming into an unfolding melody.
I tried to make the music very subtly convey the entire content of the fairy tale taking place on the stage: drumming, fanfares or the squeak of mice. Particularly loved by the public is the Act II Divertimento, which includes a series of dances at a ball in a fairy-tale land. This is a bright Spanish dance - Chocolate, an exciting oriental - Coffee, a characteristic Chinese - Tea, as well as an unusually bright and lively - Trepak. Next comes the graceful dance of the shepherds, Mother Zhigon and the pearl of Divertimento - the Waltz of the Flowers with its bewitching melody. The dance of the Dragee Fairy attracts with its sophistication, and the adagio can be safely called a real lyrical and dramatic climax.
December 24, home of the medical adviser Stahlbaum. Everyone is preparing for Christmas, and the children - Fritz and Marie - are guessing what this time the inventor and craftsman godfather, senior court adviser Drosselmeyer, who often repaired clocks in the Stahlbaum house, will give them as a gift. Marie dreamed of a garden and a lake with swans, and Fritz said that he liked the gifts of his parents with which to play (the godfather's toys were usually kept away from the children so that they would not break), and the godfather could not make a whole garden.
In the evening, the children were let in to a beautiful Christmas tree, near and on which there were gifts: new dolls, dresses, hussars, etc. The godfather made a wonderful castle, but the dolls dancing in it performed the same movements, and it was impossible to get inside the castle, therefore the miracle of technology quickly got tired of the children - only the mother became interested in the complex mechanism. When all the gifts were taken apart, Marie saw the Nutcracker. The ugly outwardly doll seemed very cute to the girl. Fritz quickly broke a couple of Nutcracker's teeth, trying to crack hard nuts, and Marie began to patronize the toy. At night, the children put the toys in a glass cabinet. Marie lingered at the closet, placing her ward with all the conveniences, and became a participant in the battle between the seven-headed mouse king and the army of dolls led by the Nutcracker. The dolls surrendered under the onslaught of mice, and when the mouse king had already crept up to the Nutcracker, Marie threw her shoe at him...
The girl woke up in bed with her elbow cut by the broken glass of the closet. No one believed her story about the night incident. The godfather brought the repaired Nutcracker and told a fairy tale about a hard nut: the beautiful princess Pirlipat was born to the king and queen, but Queen Myshilda, avenging her relatives killed by the mousetraps of the court watchmaker Drosselmeyer (they ate the fat intended for royal sausages), turned the beauty into a freak. Only the cracking of nuts could soothe her now. Drosselmeyer, on pain of death, with the help of a court astrologer, calculated the princess's horoscope - the Krakatuk nut, split by a young man with a special method, will help restore her beauty. The king sent Drosselmeyer and the astrologer in search of salvation; both the nut and the young man (the watchmaker's nephew) were found with Drosselmeyer's brother in his hometown. Many princes broke their teeth on Krakatuk, and when the king promised to marry his daughter to a savior, a nephew stepped forward. He cracked the nut and the princess, having eaten it, became a beauty, but the young man could not perform the whole ritual, because Myshilda threw herself at his feet ... The mouse died, but the guy turned into a Nutcracker. The king expelled Drosselmeier, his nephew and astrologer. However, the latter predicted that the Nutcracker would be a prince and the ugliness would disappear if he defeated the mouse king and a beautiful girl fell in love with him.
A week later, Marie recovered and began to reproach Drosselmeyer for not helping the Nutcracker. He replied that only she could help, because she rules the kingdom of light. The Mouse King got into the habit of extorting Marie for her sweets in return for the safety of the Nutcracker. Parents were alarmed by the fact that the mice wound up. When he demanded her books and dress, she took the Nutcracker in her arms and sobbed - she is ready to give everything, but when there is nothing left, the mouse king will want to kill her herself. The Nutcracker came to life and promised to take care of everything if he got a saber - Fritz helped with this, having recently dismissed the colonel (and punished the hussars for cowardice during the battle). At night, the Nutcracker came to Marie with a bloodied saber, a candle and 7 golden crowns. Having given the trophies to the girl, he led her to his kingdom - the Land of Fairy Tales, where they got through their father's fox coat. Helping the Nutcracker sisters with the housework, offering to crush caramel in a golden mortar, Marie suddenly woke up in her bed.
Of course, none of the adults believed her story. About the crowns, Drosselmeier said that this was his gift to Marie for her second birthday and refused to recognize the Nutcracker as his nephew (the toy stood in its place in the closet). Dad threatened to throw out all the dolls, and Marie did not dare to stutter about her story. But one day, Drosselmeier's nephew appeared on the threshold of their house, who privately confessed to Marie that he had ceased to be the Nutcracker, and made an offer to share the crown and throne of the Marzipan Castle with him. They say she is still the queen there.
