The Nutcracker Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

"The Nutcracker", premiered in 1892, was the last of Tchaikovsky's three ballets. The other two are the world-famous "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty". Its premiere was well received, according to Tchaikovsky's letters, but further success of the ballet was hindered by critics. One of the aspects that was criticized was that a large part of the cast was ballet school students.

There was also too much acting and too little dancing for some tastes. Several years later the choreography was reworked and performed in Moscow. Only some 50 years later G. Balanchine and the Russian Ballet of Monte-Carlo brought a revised edition to the USA. Luckily for us, nowadays it is possible to see "The Nutcracker" at many local theatres.

Answer: M. Petipa and L. Ivanov

L. Ivanov, a primo ballerino of the Mariinsky theatre, stepped in to do the choreography, as M. Petipa suffered from a severe illness. G. Balanchine choreographed a much later version of 1956, that went off to a successful launch in the USA.

Answer: E.T.A. Hoffman

When Tchaikovsky first read E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Der Nussknacker und der Mausenkönig", he was excited about the story and wanted to make a beautiful ballet rendition of it. The original story is quite complex and become more ballet-friendly in a version by A. Dumas, père, who begins telling it "in order to please his little daughter".

The latter has found herself playmate accomplices who bind the writer to a chair during a festivity, when he dozed off in a seemingly empty room. That stimulates creativity, apparently. Dumas's version is called "La Casse Noisette", which means simply "The Nutcracker", and Tchaikovsky uses this title in his letters to refer to the ballet.

Answer: Aurora

Aurora is the name of the Princess in "Sleeping Beauty". Clara is the name of the little girl who is given the Nutcracker as a present. In the original book she is called Marie, and her doll is called "Clärchen". Supposedly Clara seemed to go well with the white dress, as "klar" in German stands for "clear".

Answer: Celesta

Tchaikovsky discovered this instrument in France and wrote immediately to his publisher to order it under a veil of secrecy. He was afraid that his colleagues like N. Rimsky-Korsakov would "sniff it out" and use it before him.

Answer: Spices (India)

During her visit to the magical kingdom of Comfiturenbourg Clara encounters Chocolate, Coffee (the variety is even specified, it is Mocca from Arabia or Yemen), and Tea. Different stage directors add sweets to their taste, mostly as decorations, but you never know.

Answer: Iolanta

As "The Nutcracker" is shorter than a usual ballet, it was meant to be performed after "Iolanta", a shorter-than-usual opera. Besides being shorter, it is also optimistic (which is not characteristic of a usual opera). In it, a young princess, blind from birth, gains eyesight thanks to the power of love.
"Eugen Onegin" is a gloomier, and more famous, opera by P.I. Tchaikovsky, "La Traviata" is by G. Verdi (based on a work by A. Dumas, fils), and "Romeo and Julia" is a suite by P.I. Tchaikovsky, that never grew into an opera.

Answer: False

The "Waltz of the Snowflakes" features a two-voice choir. The original idea was boys' voices, but if none were available, female voices of the opera choir would do.

Answer: Children's trumpet

P.I. Tchaikovsky wished for a wide array of "children's instruments" to be used during the festivities of the first act. They included children's trumpet, children's drum and even animal-imitating instruments like cuculo (cuckoo), quaglia (quail), and lapin-au-tambour (rabbit-at-the-drum). Onde martelot was first used by O. Messiaen in the second half of the twentieth century.

Answer: A mouse

The full title of E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale mentions the "Mausenkönig", or the king of mice. The snake is defeated by three ladies in W.A. Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflöte", or the "Magic Flute", also a children's favourite. A dragon was slayed in "Siegfried", written by R. Wagner.

When Clara throws her shoe at the mouse king to protect her favourite toy, it is transformed into a prince who takes his little protector to Comfiturenbourg. That's a fine way to get a free fantastic holiday.