taneyev tchaikovsky - op 71 nutcracker ballet full piano transcription

Tchaikovsky’s three greatest ballets are fixtures in the repertoire of both ballet companies and symphony orchestras: Swan Lake (1876), The Sleeping Beauty (1889), and The Nutcracker (1892), and Nutcracker is the most popular of all. Composed for a ballet performance in St. Petersburg during the Christmas season of 1892, it remains a staple of the ballet repertoire—in fact for most American ballet companies, annual holiday Nutcracker productions often help to pay the bills for the rest of the season. Despite its enduring fame, he was convinced at the time that he had written a flop. He didn’t particularly like the E.T.A. Hoffmann story that was selected as the basis for the ballet, and fought with the original choreographer about every detail of phrasing. Thankfully, Tchaikovsky’s musical instincts prevailed, and he created a score full of wonderfully evocative music. Most are familiar with both the ballet and the long-standing "Nutcracker Suite" (eight pieces from the score selected by Tchaikovsky himself in 1893) that have most probably been heard with an originally-intentioned full orchestra. However, back when the ballet was first written--Tchaikovsky asked his close friend, and pupil (pianist-composer, and overly harsh critic) Sergei Taneyev to write a piano transcription of the entire score to be used for rehearsals in ballet schools. Taneyev understood Tchaikovsky's musical sensibilities better than anyone--and (while possessing supreme technical ability on the piano)--managed to transcribe every note of the amazing score to "The Nutcracker" into an approximately 176-page book for piano. It was originally published only in Russia in 1892 not long after the ballet premiered.