Tchaikovsky's Ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker (Clarendon Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Roland John Wiley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0198162499 | ISBN-13: 978-0198162490

Tchaikovsky's Ballets combines a detailed and thorough analysis of the music of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker with descriptions of the first productions of these works in Imperial Russia. A background chapter on the ballet audience, the collaboration of composer and balletmaster, and Moscow of the 1860's leads into an account of the first production of Swan Lake in 1877. A discussion of theater reforms initiated by the Director of the Imperial Theaters prepares the reader for a study of the still-famous 1890 St. Petersburg production of Sleeping Beauty. Wiley then explains how the Nutcracker, produced just two years after Sleeping Beauty, was seen in a much less favorable light than it is now. Separate chapters are devoted to the music of each ballet and translations of published libretti, choreographer's instructions to the composer, and the balletmaster's plans for Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker are reproduced in appendices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wiley's analysis of the musical background of the choreography of the Tchaikosvky-Petipa ballets is fascinating....I find it refreshing to read a musicologist's view, rather than a dance historian's, because of the minute analysis it offers of how the music itself influences the choreography."--Deborah Jowitt, Lingua Franca

"Wiley is thoroughly conversant with the large Russian literature on Tchaikovsky's ballets. It will be one of the book's important contributions that it introduces Western readers to this material and offers a critical assessment of it....An important and pioneering work. He articulates an approach to the study of a composite work of art that is seldom pursued in musicological research on ballet....The scope of documented information alone will make his book indispensable for scholars, performers, and ballet lovers alike."--Journal of the American Musicological Society

"[Wiley's] evaluations of Chaikovskii's music, illuminating the master's musical innovations, and his comprehensive history of each ballet, tracing the ballets' origins, composition, and first productions, will delight music-lovers and balletomanes alike....Wiley's penetrating musical analyses of each ballet...give rare insight into Chaikovskii's musical genius often overlooked in studies of his ballet music....Eschewing ideology, Wiley far exceeds his Soviet counterparts with his comprehensive and significant analyses....[His] substantial and engrossing reassessments of these monuments of Russian ballet establish them as great artistic and musical achievements."--Slavic Review

"Wiley has dug deep into the Russian archives, scrutinizing not only books and contemporary newspapers, but every manuscript source he could uncover....Yet Wiley has not given us a dull, austere treatise; there is plenty of humanity and local color in his descriptions of the ballet audience in nineteenth-century Russia...we should be grateful that he has brought us that much closer to an understanding of these three extraordinary highlights of our dance heritage."--Dance Research Journal

"An authoritative, important, useful book on dance, based on primary source materials, meticulously researched, and intelligently presented....Tchaikovsky's Ballets inevitably forces us to reassess our views...and Tchaikovsky must be recognized as the virtual creator of modern ballet."--New Criterion

About the Author

Roland John Wiley is at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 9, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198162499
• ISBN-13: 978-0198162490
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,417,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tchaikovsky's Ballets, February 14, 2010

By 

Julio Feliu (Gambrills, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tchaikovsky's Ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker (Clarendon Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Roland John Wiley's treatise on Tchaikovsky's ballets is the most comprehensive, enlightening and informative dissertation that I have read thus far. While most analyses of the ballets focus on the choreography, Wiley's book provides a complete historical, social and political context that sheds not only new light on the ballets but Tchaikovsky's creativeness as well. Initially, I hesitated getting this book because of its price tag. Reading the book made me immediately realize that it was a must have at any price.

Moreover, I would highly recommend Wiley's 2009 book "Tchaikovsky," which is on a par with David Brown's four-volume work on Tchaikovsky. Both authors provide accurate and detailed objective analyses on both the composer and his music. Do not be put off by the price. This book on Tchaikovsky's ballets is a must have for those who love ballet and Tchaikovsky.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of the Book Tchaikovsky's Ballets, March 26, 2006

By 

Katherine S. Ferguson (Ellicott City, MD United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tchaikovsky's Ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker (Clarendon Paperbacks) (Paperback)

This is an excellant source for anyone wishing to stage these ballets. It is also comprehensive in it's detail of the origins of the Ballets