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62-566: Before the school was established in 2004, ABT had twice attempted to train dancers for the company, but those efforts did not result in creation of a formal dance academy. From 1952 to 1980, the American Ballet Theater School conducted classes with leading dancers, In 1967, a scholarship class was established, consisting of advanced students trained for the corps de ballet. This was abandoned by Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1982 after he became artistic director. In 1988 he started

124-433: A Jenco Celestette in the band's live performances throughout the 1970s and 80s. Sheryl Crow plays celesta on her 2017 album, Be Myself . The band A-ha used, among other instruments, a Jenco celesta during their MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice performances, recorded and released in 2017. The celesta has been common in cinema for decades. In addition to supplementing numerous soundtrack orchestrations for films from

186-539: A full orchestra. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is usually cited as the first major composer to use this instrument in a work for full symphony orchestra . He first used it in his symphonic poem The Voyevoda , Op. posth. 78, premiered in November 1891. The following year, he used the celesta in passages of his ballet The Nutcracker (Op. 71, 1892), most notably in the Variation de la Fée Dragée (commonly known as

248-500: A graduated set of metal (usually steel) plates or bars suspended over wooden resonators . Four- or five-octave models usually have a damper pedal that sustains or damps the sound. The three-octave instruments do not have a pedal because of their small "table-top" design. One of the best-known works that uses the celesta is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ' s "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker . The sound of

310-715: A number of his works, particularly the "Roman triptych" of tone poems. George Gershwin included a celesta solo in the score to An American in Paris . Ferde Grofe also wrote an extended cadenza for the instrument in the third movement of his Grand Canyon Suite . Dmitri Shostakovich included parts for celesta in seven out of his fifteen symphonies, with a notable use in the fourth symphony 's coda . Erich Wolfgang Korngold featured it in many of his works, from Marietta's lied in act 1 of his opera Die tote Stadt , through his film career, to his Violin Concerto (particularly in

372-473: A string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz. To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a dance. A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Clara and the Prince down from their throne. He bows to her, she kisses Clara goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer-drawn sleigh. It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back. In

434-461: Is a member of the percussion family, in orchestral terms it is more properly considered a member of the keyboard section and usually played by a keyboardist. The celesta part is normally written on two braced staves, called a grand staff . The celesta was invented in 1886 by the Parisian harmonium builder Auguste Mustel  [ fr ] . His father, Charles Victor Mustel, had developed

496-673: Is also notably used in Gustav Mahler 's Symphony No. 6 , particularly in the 1st, 2nd and 4th movements, in his Symphony No. 8 and Das Lied von der Erde . Karol Szymanowski featured it in his Symphony No. 3 . Gustav Holst employed the instrument in his 1918 orchestral work The Planets , particularly in the final movement, Neptune , the Mystic . It also features prominently in Béla Bartók 's 1936 Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta . Ottorino Respighi included it in

558-490: Is also used in chamber music, but there are very few concertos written for it. The delicate, bell-like sound is not loud enough to be used in full ensemble sections. The celesta is a transposing instrument ; it sounds one octave higher than the written pitch. Instruments of different sizes exist with ranges of three to five and a half octaves. Its four-octave sounding range is generally considered to be C 4 to C 8 . The fundamental frequency of 4186 Hz makes this one of

620-428: Is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a ballet-féerie ; Russian: балет-феерия , romanized:  balet-feyeriya ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination. The plot is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 short story The Nutcracker , itself a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann 's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and

682-465: Is her doll's name. In the adaptation by Dumas on which Petipa based his libretto, her name is Marie Silberhaus. In still other productions, such as Balanchine's, Clara is Marie Stahlbaum rather than Clara Silberhaus. Scene 1: The Stahlbaum Home In Nuremberg, Germany on Christmas Eve in the 1820s, a family and their friends gather in the parlor to decorate the Christmas tree in preparation for

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744-400: Is transformed into a human prince. He leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which the snowflakes dance around them, beckoning them on to his kingdom as the first act ends. The Land of Sweets Clara and the Prince travel to the beautiful Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return. He recounts for her how he had been saved from

806-547: Is used by the pianist Russ Freeman on tracks from Chet Baker Sings (such as My Ideal and I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes) ). A number of recordings Frank Sinatra made for Columbia in the 1940s feature the instrument (for instance I'll Never Smile Again ), as do many of his albums recorded for Capitol in the 1950s ( In the Wee Small Hours , Close to You and Songs for Swingin' Lovers ). Notable pop and rock songs recorded with

868-567: Is written for an orchestra with the following instrumentation. Woodwinds Brass Percussion Keyboard Voice Strings Titles of all of the numbers listed here come from Marius Petipa's original scenario as well as the original libretto and programs of the first production of 1892. All libretti and programs of works performed on the stages of the Imperial Theatres were titled in French, which

930-637: The 1930s through to the 1960s , the celesta has occasionally been spotlighted to invoke a whimsical air. For example, in Pinocchio (1940), a small motif on the celesta is used whenever the Blue Fairy appears out of thin air or performs magic. Celesta also provides the signature opening of Pure Imagination , a song (sung by Gene Wilder ) from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory . Composer John Williams 's scores for

992-566: The Christmas season . ) Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend who wagered that the composer could not write a melody based on a one-octave scale in sequence. Tchaikovsky asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or descending order and was assured it did not. This resulted in the Adagio from the Grand pas de deux , which, in the ballet, nearly always immediately follows

1054-645: The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy ), in response to instructions from the Balletmaster Marius Petipa that the music should resemble "...drops of water shooting out of fountains..." . However, Ernest Chausson preceded Tchaikovsky by employing the celesta in December 1888 in his incidental music , written for a small orchestra, for La tempête (a French translation by Maurice Bouchor of William Shakespeare 's The Tempest ). The celesta

1116-653: The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Although the libretto was by Marius Petipa , who exactly choreographed the first production has been debated. Petipa began work on the choreography in August 1892; however, illness removed him from its completion and his assistant of seven years, Lev Ivanov , was brought in. Although Ivanov is often credited as the choreographer, some contemporary accounts credit Petipa. The performance

1178-644: The Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet . In recent years, revisionist productions, including those by Mark Morris , Matthew Bourne , and Mikhail Chemiakin have appeared; these depart radically from both the original 1892 libretto and Vainonen's revival, while Maurice Béjart 's version completely discards the original plot and characters. In addition to annual live stagings of the work, many productions have also been televised or released on home video. The following extrapolation of

1240-412: The "JKO Wellness Lecture Series", which educates the dancers on topics such as Nutrition, Women's Health, Stress Management, Strength Training, Resume Writing and Career Preparation. Each spring all ABT JKO students perform in 1 annual performance of ABT repertory and original choreography created by the faculty. Select students are chosen for other various performances throughout the year and are also given

1302-531: The "Waltz of the Flowers". A story is also told that Tchaikovsky's sister Alexandra (9 January 1842 — 9 April 1891 ) had died shortly before he began composition of the ballet and that his sister's death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux. However, it is more naturally perceived as a dreams-come-true theme because of another celebrated scale use,

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1364-511: The Christensen-founded Ballet West . The New York City Ballet gave its first annual performance of George Balanchine 's reworked staging of The Nutcracker in 1954. The performance of Maria Tallchief in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy helped elevate the work from obscurity into an annual Christmas classic and the industry's most reliable box-office draw. Critic Walter Terry remarked that "Maria Tallchief, as

1426-728: The Mouse King . The ballet's first choreographer was Marius Petipa , with whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beauty , assisted by Lev Ivanov . Although the complete and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not initially as successful as the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, it became popular in later years. Since the late 1960s, The Nutcracker has been danced by many ballet companies, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of

1488-560: The Mouse King ", by Alexandre Dumas called "The Story of a Nutcracker". The plot of Hoffmann's story (and Dumas' adaptation) was greatly simplified for the two-act ballet. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot titled "The Tale of the Hard Nut", which explains how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. This had to be excised for the ballet. Petipa gave Tchaikovsky extremely detailed instructions for

1550-485: The Mouse King by Clara and transformed back into himself. In honor of the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China, and candy canes from Russia all dance for their amusement; Marzipan shepherdesses perform on their flutes; Mother Ginger has her children, the Polichinelles , emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance;

1612-671: The School of Classical Ballet, with the aim of it envolving into a European-style ballet academy. The school folded for lack of funds after he left the ABT in 1989. Due to ABT's vast repertoire, JKO's training curriculum aims to provide its students the ability to adapt to all styles and techniques of dance. The training curriculum combines elements from the classic French, Russian, and Italian styles of training, and it encompasses classical ballet technique, pointe, partnering, character, modern technique, variations and pilates. Students also participate in

1674-639: The Silver Rose scene in Der Rosenkavalier (1911). The keyboard glockenspiel part in Mozart's The Magic Flute is nowadays often played by a celesta. Since Earl Hines took it up in 1928, other jazz pianists have occasionally used the celesta as an alternative instrument. In the 1930s, Fats Waller sometimes played celesta with his right hand and piano simultaneously with his left hand. Other notable jazz pianists who occasionally played

1736-537: The Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jocelyn Vollmar as the Snow Queen. After the enormous success of this production, San Francisco Ballet has presented Nutcracker every Christmas Eve and throughout the winter season, debuting new productions in 1944, 1954, 1967, and 2004. The original Christensen version continues in Salt Lake City , where Christensen relocated in 1948. It has been performed every year since 1963 by

1798-527: The Sugar Plum Fairy, is herself a creature of magic, dancing the seemingly impossible with effortless beauty of movement, electrifying us with her brilliance, enchanting us with her radiance of being. Does she have any equals anywhere, inside or outside of fairyland? While watching her in The Nutcracker, one is tempted to doubt it." Since Gorsky, Vainonen and Balanchine's productions, many other choreographers have made their own versions. Some institute

1860-536: The ascending one in the Barcarolle from The Seasons . Tchaikovsky was less satisfied with The Nutcracker than with The Sleeping Beauty . (In the film Fantasia , commentator Deems Taylor observes that he "really detested" the score.) Tchaikovsky accepted the commission from Vsevolozhsky but did not particularly want to write the ballet (though he did write to a friend while composing it, "I am daily becoming more and more attuned to my task"). The music

1922-544: The ballerina did not dance until the Grand Pas de Deux near the end of the second act (which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program). Some found the transition between the mundane world of the first scene and the fantasy world of the second act too abrupt. Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score. Some critics called it "astonishingly rich in detailed inspiration" and "from beginning to end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic". But this also

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1984-622: The ballet have been staged there since 1952. Another abridged version of the ballet, performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo , was staged in New York City in 1940, Alexandra Fedorova – again, after Petipa's version. The ballet's first complete United States performance was on 24 December 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet , staged by its artistic director, Willam Christensen , and starring Gisella Caccialanza as

2046-417: The ballet. Its score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta , an instrument the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (1891). After the success of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, Ivan Vsevolozhsky ,

2108-402: The celesta include Memphis Slim , Meade "Lux" Lewis , Willie "The Lion" Smith , Art Tatum , Duke Ellington , Thelonious Monk , Buddy Greco , Oscar Peterson , McCoy Tyner , Sun Ra , Keith Jarrett , and Herbie Hancock . A celesta provides the introduction to Someday You'll Be Sorry , a song Louis Armstrong recorded for RCA , and is featured prominently throughout the piece. A celesta

2170-460: The celesta include: Icelandic band Sigur Rós included celesta on their album Takk... , as did lead singer Jónsi on Go Quiet , the acoustic version of his solo album Go . Steven Wilson also uses it on various tracks in his solo works. The Italian 1970s progressive rock band Celeste was named after the instrument. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band used a celesta heavily in their early days, with Danny Federici often playing

2232-399: The celesta is similar to that of the glockenspiel , but with a much softer and more subtle timbre . This quality gave the instrument its name, celeste , meaning "heavenly" in French. The celesta is often used to enhance a melody line played by another instrument or section. Its musical parts are often the duplicate of a theme played on flute, harp or piano; sometimes even a real solo part. It

2294-591: The changes made by Gorsky and Vainonen while others, like Balanchine, utilize the original libretto. Some notable productions include Rudolf Nureyev 's 1963 production for the Royal Ballet , Yury Grigorovich for the Bolshoi Ballet , Mikhail Baryshnikov for the American Ballet Theatre , Fernand Nault for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens starting in 1964, Kent Stowell for Pacific Northwest Ballet starting in 1983, and Peter Wright for

2356-405: The characters (in order of appearance) is drawn from an examination of the stage directions in the score. Below is a synopsis based on the original 1892 libretto by Marius Petipa. The story varies from production to production, though most follow the basic outline. The names of the characters also vary. In the original Hoffmann story, the young heroine is called Marie Stahlbaum and Clara (Klärchen)

2418-460: The choreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One can not understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards – quite amateurish." The libretto was criticized as "lopsided" and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet, and many bemoaned the fact that

2480-616: The composition of each number, down to the tempo and number of bars. The completion of the work was interrupted for a short time when Tchaikovsky visited the United States for twenty-five days to conduct concerts for the opening of Carnegie Hall . Tchaikovsky composed parts of The Nutcracker in Rouen , France. The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky's last opera, Iolanta , on 18 December [ O.S. 6 December] 1892, at

2542-648: The concert stage, and was excerpted in Disney 's Fantasia , omitting the two movements prior to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the Nutcracker Suite made by the composer: The Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz is a successful piano arrangement from one of the movements from The Nutcracker by the pianist and composer Percy Grainger . The pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev adapted some of

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2604-848: The dancers study intensively and learn the company repertoire, they also gain various performance experiences via cultural exchanges, regional touring, and residencies. All of the dancers learn Alexei Ratmansky 's The Nutcracker , and a select group are chosen to perform the ballet when the company holds performances at Brooklyn Academy of Music . ABT offers a five-week program designed to develop well-rounded, versatile dancers. It combines various disciplines, with an emphasis on classical ballet and ABT's "National Training Curriculum". 40°44′18″N 73°59′22″W  /  40.73838°N 73.98939°W  / 40.73838; -73.98939 The Nutcracker The Nutcracker ( Russian : Щелкунчик , romanized :  Shchelkunchik , pronounced [ɕːɪɫˈkunʲt͡ɕɪk] ), Op. 71,

2666-415: The delight of all. He then has them put away for safekeeping. Clara and her brother Fritz are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden nutcracker doll , which the other children ignore. Clara immediately takes a liking to it, but Fritz accidentally breaks it. Clara is heartbroken, but Drosselmeyer fixes the nutcracker, much to everyone's relief. During

2728-406: The director of the Imperial Theatres, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill program featuring both an opera and a ballet. The opera would be Iolanta . For the ballet, Tchaikovsky would again join forces with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on The Sleeping Beauty. The material Vsevolozhsky chose was an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann 's story " The Nutcracker and

2790-407: The first three Harry Potter films feature the instrument, particularly in the first two films' frequent statements of " Hedwig's Theme ". Another notable use of the celesta was in the music on the children's television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . It was most famously heard in the intro to the theme song of the programme, "Won't You Be My Neighbor", which began with a dreamy sequence on

2852-503: The forerunner of the celesta, the typophone, in 1860. This instrument produced sound by striking tuning forks instead of the metal plates that would be used in the celesta. The dulcitone functioned identically to the typophone and was developed concurrently in Scotland; it is unclear whether their creators were aware of one another's instrument. The typophone's and dulcitone's uses were limited by its low volume, too quiet to be heard in

2914-405: The highest pitches in common use. The original French instrument had a five-octave range, but because the lowest octave was considered somewhat unsatisfactory, it was omitted from later models before eventually being added back when technology improved. The standard French four-octave instrument is now gradually being replaced in symphony orchestras by a larger, five-octave German model. Although it

2976-629: The instrument. The song was sung by Fred Rogers and played by Johnny Costa . It was also used from time to time in other music sequences throughout the programme, such as the one heard as the Neighborhood Trolley moved in and out of the Neighborhood of Make Believe. A celesta is used in the full orchestral version of the theme song from the TV series The West Wing , composed by W. G. Snuffy Walden . Schiedmayer and Yamaha are

3038-409: The mice, led by their king. The nutcracker appears to lead the gingerbread men, who are joined by tin soldiers, and by dolls who serve as doctors to carry away the wounded. As the seven-headed Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him. Scene 2: A Pine Forest The mice retreat and the nutcracker

3100-453: The music into a virtuosic concert suite for piano solo: Celesta The celesta ( / s ɪ ˈ l ɛ s t ə / ) or celeste ( / s ɪ ˈ l ɛ s t / ), also called a bell-piano , is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave ), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box (three-octave). The keys connect to hammers that strike

3162-440: The night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor to check on the nutcracker. As she reaches the small bed, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see Drosselmeyer perched atop it. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights. The nutcracker also grows to life size. Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and

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3224-530: The opportunity to perform in ABT's production of The Nutcracker . ABT Studio Company, formerly known as ABT II, is a small company of 12 young dancers, ranging from ages 16 to 20, handpicked by ABT. It is currently an extension of the ABT JKO school. These dancers are trained in the program to join ABT's main company or other leading professional companies, and the program is described by ABT as "a bridge between ballet training and professional performance". While

3286-578: The original libretto, the ballet's apotheosis "represents a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches". Just like Swan Lake , there have been various alternative endings created in productions subsequent to the original. The Nutcracker is one of the composer's most popular compositions. The music belongs to the Romantic period and contains some of his most memorable melodies, several of which are frequently used in television and film. (They are often heard in TV commercials shown during

3348-410: The party. Once the tree is finished, the children are summoned. When the party begins, presents are given out to the children. When the owl-topped grandfather clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer— a councilman, magician, and Clara's godfather. He is also a talented toymaker who has brought with him gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to

3410-568: The piano reduction score by Sergei Taneyev (1892), both published by P. Jurgenson in Moscow, and the Soviet collected edition of the composer's works, as reprinted Melville, New York: Belwin Mills [n.d.] Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming The Nutcracker Suite , Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite

3472-512: The second movement), and beyond. Twentieth-century American composer Morton Feldman used the celesta in many of his large-scale chamber pieces such as Crippled Symmetry and For Philip Guston , and it figured in much of his orchestral music and other pieces. In some works, such as "Five Pianos" one of the players doubles on celesta. The celesta is used in Carl Orff 's cantata Carmina Burana (1936), and in some 20th-century operas such as

3534-668: Was conducted by Italian composer Riccardo Drigo , with Antonietta Dell'Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as Prince Coqueluche, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince, and Timofey Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer. Unlike in many later productions, the children's roles were performed by real children – students of the Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg , with Belinskaya as Clara, and Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz – rather than adults. The first performance of The Nutcracker

3596-669: Was first performed outside Russia in Budapest (Royal Opera House) in 1927, with choreography by Ede Brada. In 1934, choreographer Vasili Vainonen staged a version of the work that addressed many of the criticisms of the original 1892 production by casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Prince, as Gorsky had. The Vainonen version influenced several later productions. The first complete performance outside Russia took place in England in 1934, staged by Nicholas Sergeyev after Petipa's original choreography. Annual performances of

3658-603: Was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number encored at its premiere, while the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City. The suite became very popular on

3720-475: Was not deemed a success. The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. Although some critics praised Dell'Era on her pointework as the Sugar Plum Fairy (she allegedly received five curtain-calls), one critic called her "corpulent" and "podgy". Olga Preobrajenskaya as the Columbine doll was panned by one critic as "completely insipid" and praised as "charming" by another. Alexandre Benois described

3782-530: Was not unanimous, as some critics found the party scene "ponderous" and the Grand Pas de Deux "insipid". In 1919, choreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a production which eliminated the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier and gave their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, who were played by adults instead of children. This was the first production to do so. An abridged version of the ballet

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3844-487: Was the official language of the Imperial Court, as well as the language from which balletic terminology is derived. Casse-Noisette . Ballet-féerie in two acts and three tableaux with apotheosis. Act I Act II List of acts, scenes (tableaux) and musical numbers, along with tempo indications . Numbers are given according to the original Russian and French titles of the first edition score (1892),

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