| “ | You know, it's funny how wrong an artist can be about his own work. Now, the one composition of Tchaikovsky's that he really detested was his Nutcracker Suite, which is probably the most popular thing he ever wrote. It's a series of dances taken out of a full-length ballet called The Nutcracker, that he once composed for the St. Petersburg Opera House. It wasn't much of a success, and nobody performs it nowadays, but I'm pretty sure you'll recognize the music of the suite when you hear it. Incidentally, you won't see any nutcracker on the screen, there's nothing left of him but the title. | ” |
— Deems Taylor introducing The Nutcracker Suite | ||
The Nutcracker Suite is a segment from the non-Christmas Disney film, Fantasia.
Synopsis[]
A selection of pieces from Tchaikovsky's now-classic Christmas ballet The Nutcracker, is a personified depiction of the changing of the seasons; first from summer to autumn, and then from autumn to winter. As Master of Ceremonies Deems Taylor points out, there is no "nutcracker on the screen; there's nothing left of him but the title." Unlike the original ballet, this version has no plot. It features a variety of dances, just as in the ballet, but done so by animated fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves; no actual nutcracker is ever seen in it. Many elements are rendered carefully and painstakingly using techniques such as dry brush and airbrush. The musical segments are as follows:
- Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy: Multi-colored fireflies turn into tiny sparkling blue Dewdrop Fairies and dragonfly sprites who dart and flit among flowers, touching them with their wands and spreading sparkling dew droplets across the forest. As buds open, more little fairies are awakened. A spider web is illuminated by the dazzling bits of moisture. Three sprites collide, producing a white explosion of dew drops that fall on red-topped mushrooms.
- Chinese Dance: Six red-topped mushrooms shake off the dew, then become wide, coolie-hatted Chinese men with round heads, long robes and pigtails that are choreographed into a dance. Hop Low, smaller than the rest of the mushrooms, cannot keep up with the steps and routines of the larger mushrooms. He hops back into place just in time to take a final bow.
- Dance of the Reed Flutes: Multi-colored flower petals and blossoms spin and drift downward to the surface of a stream. On the water surface, their petals spread out and they are transformed into tiny, wide-skirted ballerinas. A breeze sends them spinning across the water surface and among the branches of overhanging trees, until they are swept over a bubbling cascade and vanish.
- Arabian Dance: Underwater bubbles from the cascade rise gracefully to the surface where the flower blossoms vanished. Underwater, in a forest of undulating water plants that becomes a harem, exotic gold and black fish with long flowing tails create beautiful patterns in an aqua ballet. The goldfish become coquettish chorines with pink eyelids and fluttering lashes. Bubbles again rise to the surface at the end of the sequence.
- Russian Dance: One thistle with six pink blossoms bursts from the largest bubble, becoming six separate, Russian-looking, mustached, high-kicking thistles. More groups of thistles join the dance, spinning and dancing with groups of orchids that resemble slim-waisted peasant girls with full skirts and quaint headdresses. The pace gets faster and faster until it freezes on a final tableau.
- Waltz of the Flowers: The change of seasons from autumn to winter is beautifully illustrated in four dances.
(1) Autumn Fairies fly among the trees, touching green leaves which take on yellowish-brown fall colors. The leaves drop from their branches and drift with the wind.
(2) The Autumn Fairies also touch milkweed pods which burst, releasing their silky milkweed seeds. The seeds resemble classical ballerina dancers with white bouffant skirts and smooth, sleek black hair.
(3) Bluish Frost Fairies decorate nature with tiny needles of bluish white ice. They skim and skate across the surface of the pond, changing it to ice and leaving patterns. A new wintry season has arrived.
(4) Snowflake Fairies with whirling skirts begin to fall, dancing and covering the entire landscape.
One quaint novelty of the full-length roadshow version of Fantasia is that during his commentary on the Nutcracker Suite, Deems Taylor observes that the complete ballet "wasn't much of a success and nobody performs it nowadays." The United States did not see a complete staging of the ballet until 1944, four years after Fantasia was released, and George Balanchine's 1954 staging with the New York City Ballet established the modern tradition of performing it at Christmas.
Music Video Gallery[]
