Toy story: Chewing over Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker

Those who dismiss the composer's Christmas favourite as a throwaway should consider the sad events behind its creationPyotr Tchaikovsky wrote music for the soul. Yet The Nutcracker – the balletic equivalent of a Terry's Chocolate Orange – has seemingly few claims to profundity. Snowflakes and Sugar Plum Fairies are hardly the stuff of great drama. At the ballet's premiere in 1892, the audience couldn't see anything beyond the glitzy packaging. Like us, they wondered how Tchaikovsky, the grea...

Read full article Share article