Contrapunctus

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / III. Romanticism

The Nutcracker

1891–⁠92 · Op. 71 · Ballet in two acts

The familiar suite leaves out much of the complete ballet, including its wordless children’s chorus in the snow scene. The celesta was a new acquisition, and Tchaikovsky wanted it kept secret from rival composers.

8 min

Recording

  1. Act II, No. 13 · Waltz of the FlowersUnited States Air Force Band, Concert Band · 1996
    7:30

    The United States Air Force Band plays Lawrence Odom’s arrangement of the Waltz of the Flowers, No. 13 from Act II of The Nutcracker, Op. 71. In this version brass and woodwind carry the long melodies over the three-beat dance.

    Listening notes · joins
    1. United States Air Force Band recording, 1996

      The United States Air Force Band recorded this waltz for its 1996 album Christmas on Stage and Screen, where it is track 6. Lawrence Odom arranged Tchaikovsky’s orchestral score for the band’s brass and woodwind.

    2. Harp cadenza

      The cadenza runs up and down through broken chords before the waltz begins in regular time. Tchaikovsky marks the solo ad libitum, and it ends on held chords.

    3. Waltz theme in D major

      The waltz begins in D major. A low first beat and two chords keep the triple metre while the melody runs across the bar lines. Shorter phrases follow each long phrase of the tune.

    4. Letter to Vsevolozhsky, Rouen, 1891

      In Rouen in April 1891, Tchaikovsky asked Ivan Vsevolozhsky to postpone The Nutcracker and Iolanta. Given enough time, he promised “two masterpieces (pardon my immodesty)”. His ship for America was due to leave in two days, and the ballet was still unfinished.

    5. Middle section, B minor melody

      A high melody in short steps opens the middle section of the waltz. A longer tune follows, lower down, in B minor. Beneath both, the bass and offbeat chords keep to the three-beat pattern.

    6. Suite première, Saint Petersburg, 1892

      Tchaikovsky conducted the suite in Saint Petersburg on 19 March 1892, nine months before the ballet reached the stage. The waltz was the last number. Two days later he wrote to his publisher: “The suite from the ballet was successful.”

    7. Return of the principal waltz, D major

      At rehearsal H the principal waltz melodies return in D major. The three-beat accompaniment continues straight into the returning phrases, and there is no second cadenza.

    8. Final chords in D major

      Repeated chords bring the waltz to its close in D major. The Waltz of the Flowers ends the concert suite. In the ballet the pas de deux follows it.

    Joins

    1. Ensemble chords lead to the cadenza

      The introduction comes to rest on A, the dominant of D major. Sustained ensemble chords stop, and the soloist (the harp, in the original score) plays exposed broken chords, marked ad libitum. In this cadenza the soloist moves freely across the range of the instrument. The waltz then begins in a steady three beats to the bar.

    2. The bass starts the waltz

      The cadenza ends with held dominant chords. At the return to a tempo, D major is restored with a regular bass note on the first beat and chords on the next two. The horns then begin the long principal melody above this accompaniment.

    3. Second tune in D major

      The principal group is followed by a high, lightly articulated tune in D major. The bass and offbeat chords continue underneath. A lower, more sustained melody follows in B minor, with rising runs above it.

    4. Return of the waltz in D major

      A descending bass line leads into the return of the principal waltz group in D major. The accompaniment continues in triple time, and the melody returns without the introductory cadenza. The score marks the returning tune cantabile.

    Open in the Concert Hall

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