18 December: The Nutcracker Suite

On this date in 1892 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Christmas favourite The Nutcracker Suite premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia. 10 things you might not know about The Nutcracker Suite.

1. The ballet is based on a story called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman. The original story was quite dark and hardly suitable to become a children's Christmas classic. Alexandre Dumas wrote a lighter adaptation of it, and it's his version the ballet was based on.
2. Imperial Russian Ballet choreographer Marius Petipa wanted to produce a ballet based on the tale, and commissioned Tchaikovsky to write the music.
3. The plot is as follows: In the first act, the Stahlbaum family hold a Christmas party at which they decorate their Tree and exchange gifts. One of the guests is a council official and toymaker, Drosselmeyer, who brings gifts including dancing dolls and a nutcracker shaped like a little man. Most of the kids aren't interested much in the latter, but one of them, Clara, particularly likes it and is heartbroken when her brother Fritz breaks it. Clara gets up in the middle of the night to check on it, and as the clock strikes midnight, the toys come to life and the room is flooded by Mice, led by the Mouse King. They start to eat the Gingerbread soldiers and a battle begins, with the Nutcracker leading the soldiers. Clara joins in, throwing her slipper at the Mouse King which distracts him long enough for the Nutcracker to stab him. The Nutcracker is transformed into a handsome prince, who transports Clara to his forest kingdom.
4. The second act takes place in the Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return. Sweets from around the world perform dances in honour of Clara. Performers include chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China, candy canes from Russia, Danish shepherdesses, Mother Ginger and her children, flowers, and finally, the Sugar Plum Fairy herself and her Cavalier. After the performance, Clara and the prince ride away in a sleigh pulled by Reindeer.
5. The Nutcracker ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on December 18, 1892. It was conducted by Riccardo Drigo. The dancers included Antoinetta Dell-Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Pavel Gerdt as her prince. Stanislava Belinskaya played Clara, Sergei Legat played the Nutcracker prince and Timofei Stukolkin played Uncle Drosselmeyer. The children were students of the Imperial Ballet School of St. Petersburg.
6. It wasn't the resounding success at first that one might expect. Critical reactions to the premiere were mixed. Some critics called it "astonishingly rich in detailed inspiration", but others disliked the fact that the children were played by actual children, that they didn't see the principal ballerina's Sugar Plum Fairy dance until almost the end, and used words like "ponderous" and "insipid". The musical score had been performed as a concert several months before the ballet's premiere, in March 1892. The critics had liked that much more than they did the ballet.
7. One reason the critics might have been cranky was because the ballet was a double bill with an opera, Iolanta. This meant the whole show went on until after midnight.
8. Tchaikovsky himself wasn’t happy with his score. He felt Marius Petipa's strict guidelines stifled his creativity so he didn't really enjoy writing it. Tchaikovsky thought his Sleeping Beauty was infinitely better.
9. The music introduced a new instrument to audiences - the celesta, a type of piano. Tchaikovsky used it as the “voice” of the Sugar Plum Fairy because of its clear tone. He also used children's toys as instruments in keeping with the tale as a children's story.
10. It was 42 years, in 1934, before the ballet was performed in full outside Russia, in England, although a short version had been performed in Budapest seven years earlier. It was another ten years before Americans got to see it, in San Francisco in 1944. It didn't reach New York until 1954. However, people in America had heard some of the music already, since Disney had used some of it in the animated film Fantasia.

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

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