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9. output: 3 ballets: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty,
and The Nutcracker; 8 operas, 7 symphonies, 4
concertos, chamber music, choral music, songs
B. The Nutcracker
1. based on E. T. A. Hoffmann story
a. Christmas party
b. Clara and Fritz receive Nutcracker from their
godfather
c. Clara dreams Nutcracker becomes a hand-
some Prince
d. travel through magical realm, exoticism
2. choreographed by Marius Petipa
C. LG 38: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Two Dances
(1892)
1. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
a. A- B- A, bouncy duple meter (andante tempo)
b. introduction: pizzicato strings
c. A section: celesta, bell- like timbre
d. B section: brief, woodwinds and celesta
answered by strings
e. closes with loud pizzicato chord
2. Trepak (Rus sian Dance)
a. A- B- A, molto vivace
b. lively peasant dance, tambourine featured
c. descending melody with sforzandos (heavy
accents)
d. accelerando to end, trumpet fanfare,
syncopations
OVERVIEW
This chapter grounds the ballets of Tchaikovsky in the
historical dancing traditions of France and the imperial
Rus sian ballet at St.Petersburg in the mid-1800s. Tchai-
OUTLINE
I. The Ballet
A. Historical antecedents
1. Re nais sance:
a. courts of kings, dukes: lavish festivals, theat-
rical entertainment
b. royal weddings, cele brations: spectacles with
scenery, costumes, staged dancing
i. Italy, intermedio; England, masque;
France, ballet de cour
2. Seveteenth century:
a. dancing at court of Louis XIV
b. ballets featured in French opera
B. In de pen dent dramatic form
1. Eigh teenth century: in de pen dent art form
2. Nineteenth century: France and Rus sia preeminent
3. Marius Petipa: French- born choreographer in
St.Petersburg
a. created hundreds of dances, stage ballet to
unpre ce dented heights
b. in ven ted structure of pas de deux
II. Tchaikovsky and The Nutcracker
A. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
1. Rus sian composer
2. son of government official
3. age 23, entered Conservatory of St.Petersburg
4. taught 12years at Moscow Conservatory
5. extremely sensitive nature, prone to depression
6. social pressures, homosexual, married a student
7. Nadezhda von Meck: wealthy widow, became
his patron
8. fame in Eu rope and United States
a. 1891: conducted opening of Car ne gie Hall,
New York City
CHAPTERfi46 Poetry in Motion: Tchaikovsky and the Ballet
184 | Chapterfi46
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Students are likely unfamiliar with the celesta; introduce this
instrument with images or videos, or better yet a demonstra-
tion if one is available.
Some students will be troubled by the obvious ethnic ste-
reo types in Act II of The Nutcracker. It may help to contex-
tualize these ste reo types with a broader discussion of the role
of exoticism in late nineteenth- century Rus sian music.
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beauty, Nutcracker. Oxford: Clarendon, 1991. Features musical
analyses and production background on the first per for mances
of Tchaikovsky’s three famous ballets.
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Katherine Dunham, and Lil Buck. Note how the dancer var-
ies and repeats the movements, the variety of melodic ideas
in the music, and the way the music and movement are syn-
chronized. Do you think the dancer is conveying a story
MODEL RESPONSES
kovsk y’s Nutcracker testifies to the composer’s enduring
legacy as the giant of late nineteenth- century Rus sian
ballet.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the in de pen dent form of nineteenth-
century ballet and its roots in the historical dancing tra-
ditions of France and later of Rus sia at St.Petersburg
2. To recognize Tchaikovsky as the leading composer of
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Show your students video clips of examples of French
2. Explore with your class the diversity of instrumental
ensembles that Tchaikovsky employed in the dif fer-
ent numbers of the ballet suite, even beyond the two
excerpts in the listening guide (March; Dance of the
Sugar Plum Fairy; Trepak; Arab Dance; Chinese
Dance; Dance of the Toy Flutes; Waltz of the Flowers).
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Locate two or three dif fer ent productions of The Nut-
2. “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.”— Martha
Poetry in Motion: Tchaikovsky and the Ballet | 185
At the opening of this video clip, what is most noticeable
about these dancers after watching the Lil Buck video is
how similarly their footwork flows— gracefully and floating
as opposed to rhythmic and aggressive. The one difference
in the footwork is the athletic jumping of the ballet dancers,
which seems to tell the story of animated emotions, such as
the excitement of new love. Also in contrast to Lil Buck are
upper body often features pop- locking moves that are more
aligned to the mechanical rhythm of the drum beat. This
provides a visually compelling contrast between upper and
lower body, with his midsection often contorted and twisted
in flexible positions. This contrast is mirrored in the music,
with the strong and aggressive beat working with and
against the bendy and dreamy sound of the synth layers. The
visual backdrop of Lil Buck’s routine also suggests he’s tell-
186
CHAPTERfi47 Exotic Allure: Puccini and the Italian
Verismo Tradition
c. Pinkerton returns several years later with his
American wife
d. Pinkerton decides to take their son back to
Amer i ca
e. Butterfly takes her own life (hara- kiri)
4. exoticism in the music:
a. traditional Japa nese melodies
b. whole- tone and pentatonic scales
c. evokes Japa nese gagaku orchestra: harp, flute,
piccolo, bells
d. brief reference to The Star- Spangled Banner
D. LG 39: Puccini: “Un bel dì” (“One beautiful day”),
from Madame Buttery, Act II (1904)
1. Butterfly dreams of Pinkerton’s return
2. opening: ethereal voice accompanied by solo
violin
3. rich accompaniment, orchestra in unison with
voice
4. rising dynamics, emotional level builds
a. “l’aspetto” (“I wait for him”), orchestra plays fff
OVERVIEW
Puccini’s verismo operas are in line with the musical ideals
of the post- Romantic tradition. Madame Buttery illustrates
post- Romantic composers’ interest in exotic subjects and
musical effects, sensuous lyricism, and portrayals of realism.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand post- Romanticism as a movement nota-
ble for its inspired orchestral writing, sensuous lyricism,
portrayals of realism, and interest in exotic subjects
OUTLINE
I. Post- Romanticism
A. Expansion, intensification of late Romanticism
1. Germany, Austria, Italy
2. composers: Giacomo Puccini, Richard Strauss,
Gustav Mahler
II. Puccini and Verismo Opera
A. Verismo (realism) movement
1. subjects from everyday life
2. treated in down- to- earth fashion
3. counter parts in Germany, France
B. Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
1. Italian composer; main voice of verismo
movement
2. son of a church organist
3. early success followed by misfortune
4. accessible style: bel canto- style soaring melo-
dies, rich orchestral timbres, leitmotifs
5. major works: La bohème, Tosca, Madame But-
tery, Turandot
6. output: 12 operas, choral works, songs, orches-
tral, chamber, and solo piano works
C. Madame Buttery
1. based on Pierre Loti’s tale, Madame
Chrysanthème
a. story of tragic- heroic female protagonist,
Cio- Cio- San (Madame Butterfly)
2. combines verismo and exoticism
a. exoticism: takes place in Japan
3. plot summary:
a. American naval officer, Pinkerton, marries
geisha, Cio- Cio- San
b. Pinkerton returns to US, Butterfly awaits his
return
the geisha. It may help to further contextualize the geisha
within Japa nese culture before moving forward with the story.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Find an example of con temporary music (for example, a
popu lar song) that is intended to evoke an exotic quality.
MODEL RESPONSE
attempt to evoke a par tic u lar style and, instead, attempted to
write a song fully immersed in the Indian classical style.
Inspired by his studies with Ravi Shankar, Harrison incorpo-
rated Indian instruments such as sitar and tabla into his set-
Indian classical style was likely an attempt to go beyond refer-
ences that could be seen or heard as clichéd ste reo types, and
2. To recognize Puccini’s Madame Buttery as a represen-
tative example of the post- Romantic style in Italy
3. To recognize Puccini’s Madame Buttery as an exemplar
of the end- of- the- century trends of verismo and exoticism
1. Introduce your students briefly to the subjects and nar-
ratives of the famous verismo operas by Puccini (La
bohème, Madame Buttery), Leoncavallo (I Pagliacci)
with its traditional Western counter parts. Then sample
some of the pentatonic- inflected melodies from Pucci-
ni’s Madame Buttery, emphasizing their exotic effect.
One striking example of Puccini’s use of exotic melodies
to portray a sonic image of the opera’s Japa nese setting is
heard during the wedding ceremony of Pinkerton and
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
y. Extend this comparison to the music: How does Japan
figure in dif fer ent and similar ways in these two works?
2. How does Puccini call on the orchestra to depict the
emotions of Cio- Cio- San in “Un bel dì”? Explore other
TEACHING CHALLENGES
