TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012

QUOTE:
"Music is the universal language of mankind."

AUTHOR: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Music is a form of communication that everyone can understand.”

COMPOSER

TCHAIKOVSKY

"Nutcracker Suite"

Overture Miniature

Conducted by Micha Haran

"Nutcracker"
Complete

"Nutcracker Ballet"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/arts/dance/george-balanchines-the-nutcracker-at-lincoln-center.html?_r=0

at the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theater

Design for the Imperial-era curtain of the Mariinsky Theatre that existed prior to 1914.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariinsky_Theatre

"Nutcracker" Russian Dance: Rock Guitar Metal Version

HERE IS A VERSION OF THE NUTCRACKER SUITE 
WITH WORDS FOR CHILDREN BY CAPTAIN KANGAROO
http://gentlebirth.org/nutcracker/#Download

Term: What is a SUITE?

As in the "Nutcracker," composers who had written operas or ballets which incorporated many long dance movements or songs often made arrangements of these in a shortened form for orchestra so that it could be played at concerts.

NEW INSTRUMENT: 

Celesta (bell like sound) used in the "Nutcracker"

http://www.vsl.co.at/en/70/3196/3204/3207/5748.vsl

The celesta (pronounced /sɨˈlɛstə/) or celeste (pronounced /sɨˈlɛst/) is a struck idiophone 

operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano (four- or five-octave) 

or of a large wooden music box (three-octave). The keys are connected to hammers which 

strike a graduated set of metal (usually steel) plates suspended over wooden resonators. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celesta 

The story:

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (German: Nussknacker und Mausekönig) is a story written in 1816 by ETA Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, 

comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. 

http://www.lpomusic.com/files/December%2017th_Nutcrackersmall.pdf