Tag Archives: musical surprises

Yet another source for the Nutcracker party scene tune

Posted on September 8, 2013 10:01 am by Jonathan Still

It’s become something of a hobby, finding sources for the tunes in Tchaikovsky’s score for The Nutcracker. I thought I’d had all the surprises there were to be had when I discovered that the source for the tune of the children’s galop … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, Music, Playing for ballet class | Tagged Basque dance, Music, Tchaikovsky, ballet, ethnomusicology, folk music, musical surprises, nutcracker | Leave a comment

More on borrowings in the Nutcracker

Posted on May 18, 2012 4:22 pm by Jonathan Still

I think most people know that there are quite a few musical borrowings in the Nutcracker, and that Tchaikovsky got the theme for the Arabian from somewhere – a Georgian folk song or something like that. But it’s only thanks … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, Music, Musicology, Playing for ballet class | Tagged Georgian music, Ippolitov-Ivanov, Music, Tchaikovsky, ballet, borrowings, choreomusicology, musical surprises, nutcracker | Leave a comment

On revolution in The Nutcracker and the limits of Google

Posted on May 12, 2012 10:55 am by Jonathan Still

French revolutionary musical borrowings in The Nutcracker —wny? As I said in my last post, where I think I’ve discovered a French counter-revolutionary song as a source for one of Tchaikovsky’s musical borrowings in The Nutcracker, I had a vague recollection … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, Music, Playing for ballet class | Tagged French, Music, Tchaikovsky, ballet, borrowings, musical surprises, nutcracker, songs | Leave a comment

At last: a picture of a mirliton

Posted on December 21, 2011 7:42 am by Jonathan Still

I can’t tell you how pleased I am about this: Here, on a site dedicated to the iconography of the bagpipe, are two pictures of mirlitons (scroll down to see them), placed as I have always suspected within the general category of … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, Music, Playing for ballet class | Tagged Music, Tchaikovsky, ballet, ballet mysteries, mirlitons, musical surprises, nutcracker, organology | Leave a comment

Musical surprises #26: The Csárdás from Coppélia is not by Delibes

Posted on July 12, 2010 1:33 pm by Jonathan Still

A bit unseasonal this, since ‘musical surprises’ was the theme of my 2009 Advent Calendar. But I just couldn’t wait til next year to share my excitement at this one. It seems that not only is the theme of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Advent calendar, Dance, Music, Playing for ballet class | Tagged Coppélia, Delibes, Music, advent 2009, ballet, ballet accompaniment, csárdás, czardasz, musical surprises, pugni | Leave a comment