Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker - Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel

Tchaikovsky Nutcracker liner notes

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) wrote uncomplicated music, rich with entrancing melodies, even though he was personally deeply troubled. By 1890, the year Tchaikovsky received the commission for the Nutcracker, he had reached a pinnacle in his career but was plagued by severe depression. He had lost his close friend and patron, Mme. Nadezhda von Meck (a friendship purely based on correspondence) when she suddenly withdrew her financial support and stopped writing to him, and Tchaikovsky bitterly missed their correspondence. His opera The Queen of Spades was received with great acclaim, but was withdrawn after only 13 performances. The Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg commissioned him to write a one-act opera on a topic of his own choosing and a ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, but he did not believe the work could yield a viable ballet. He wrote to his brother Modeste: "Is it wise to accept the offer of the Opera Directorate?...My brain is empty; I have not the least pleasure in work." He nonetheless accepted the commission and then asked the Imperial Opera to postpone the premiere from the 1891-92 season to the following year. He began work in February, 1891 and on March 19, 1892, Tchaikovsky led the famous Suite from the as yet incomplete Nutcracker ballet at a concert in St. Petersburg.