Throwback Thursday and Tchaikovsky’s Secret
I have always loved the music for the adagio section of grand
pas de deux in The Nutcracker. It isn’t something that is
played during the holiday season at the mall, or even on the radio. Most people
are very familiar with the music for the Sugar Plum Fairy’s variation, but few
have heard the adagio unless they have attended the ballet.
Only recently did I run across the reason this piece of
music may be so hauntingly beautiful. During the time Tchaikovsky was composing
the music for The Nutcracker, his
sister Alexandra (Sasha) passed away. According to author Jennifer Fisher: “Musicologist John Roland Wiley has suggested
that Tchaikovsky actually left a coded message in the rhythm of the adagio’s
principal piece of music, a descending scale of notes that is repeated “with
prayer-like insistence.” Some believe that Tchaikovsky intended to honor his
sister with this exquisite piece of music.
You can read the entire fascinating article here: http://www.danceadvantage.net/?s=Sugar+Plum
.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Ballet Secret #15p:
“The music in the adagio
in the last act of Nutcracker may hold a secret.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“After silence, that which comes nearest to
expressing the inexpressible is music.”
― Aldous Huxley
― Aldous Huxley
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