Post by Slinger on Dec 28, 2015 12:44:38 GMT
From now until Jan 4th I'm going to post 12 Christmas themed pieces of music with a little bit of info about each. Rest assured I had to look 99% of it up, so I'm not trying to look clever, 
I just think it's nicer to have a bit of background sometimes. The 12 pieces are in no particular order, some famous and some not so famous, so hopefully you'll find a few you've never heard before as well as some old favourites.
N.B. I'd be greatly obliged if you didn't post your own favourites/choices in these threads because I'm going to look very silly if you choose pieces I've picked for later in this little series.
TCHAIKOVSKY: WALTZ OF THE FLOWERS FROM THE NUTCRACKER
An old favourite today, and probably the quintessential Christmas piece. The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta.
Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker.
Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions, in particular the pieces featured in the suite. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda.
I just think it's nicer to have a bit of background sometimes. The 12 pieces are in no particular order, some famous and some not so famous, so hopefully you'll find a few you've never heard before as well as some old favourites.N.B. I'd be greatly obliged if you didn't post your own favourites/choices in these threads because I'm going to look very silly if you choose pieces I've picked for later in this little series.
TCHAIKOVSKY: WALTZ OF THE FLOWERS FROM THE NUTCRACKER
An old favourite today, and probably the quintessential Christmas piece. The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta.
Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker.
Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions, in particular the pieces featured in the suite. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda.
