Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker (suite), Op. 71a

The Nutcracker is a two act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and with a score by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovski (Op. 71). The libretto is adopted from E.T.A Hoffman's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was premiered in 1892 and, though it was not a succes, the 20-minute suite Tchaikovsky extracted from it was. Despite this, the complete Nutcracked enoyed enourmous succes later, becoming one of Tchaikovsky's most famous compositions. Probably scanned from a reprint edition (Kalmus, Dover, Lucks)