The idea for The Nutcracker ballet came from theone-time director of the Tsarist theatre who, based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s fairy tale entitled the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, wanted to stage a fairy tale ballet that would surpass all that had gone before, both in sound and in spectacle. Tchaikovsky was asked to compose the music and after Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty his third and final ballet was also a great success. It was the six-movement suite of the music of The Nutcracker that was first performed in March 1892, and in December of the same year the spectacularly presented theatrical work was also performed. The Nutcracker has become the most frequently played ballet piece of all time.
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