There is a really strong chance that if you play the flute, you will play part or all of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker at some point in your career. Tunes from this two-act ballet have become synonymous with Christmas, and chances are during December, there is a performance happening in a theatre near you!
The Nutcracker is based on Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King from 1816. The story opens on Christmas Eve when a young girl receives a nutcracker. That night, she sneaks back into the living room to check on her new toy. When the clock strikes midnight, she finds herself in the middle of a battle between mice and gingerbread soldiers led by their king, the Nutcracker. The girl helps the Nutcracker defeat the Mouse King, the Nutcracker is transformed into a prince, and he thanks the girl by taking her on a journey through the Magical Forest and the Kingdom of Sweets, where they meet a lot of different characters along the way. A full synopsis of The Nutcracker by the Boston Ballet is available here.
Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write this ballet in 1891 by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, Director of the Imperial Theatres in Moscow. It was composed between February 1891 and April 1892 and received its first performance not as the full ballet, but as a condensed orchestral suite in March of 1892. The entire ballet was first performed alongside Tchaikovsky’s one-act opera Iolanta on December 18, 1892, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Riccardo Drigo conducting. The Nutcracker’s first performance was not an immediate success – many patrons blamed the poor choreography, dull scenery, and bland costumes, and Tchaikovsky wrote in a letter to a friend that “Apparently the opera gave pleasure, but the ballet not really; and, as a matter of fact, in spite of all the sumptuousness it did turn out to be rather boring.” ¹
Forty-two years later, The Nutcracker received its out-of-country debut in England. The first complete performance of the ballet in the United States was given ten years later by the San Fransisco Ballet. In 1954 it was performed by the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine. Today, The Nutcracker is wildly popular and is staged all over the world (especially around Christmastime). It has also been taped and released on home video, is frequently televised, and has even been adapted into several movies. It’s hard to imagine a Christmas without The Nutcracker!
All three flutes (with the third doubling on piccolo) play a large role in this ballet, each with many important excerpts. This blog will provide some tips and tricks for just a few of these, including the Chinese Dance, Dance of the Mirlitons, and Mother Ginger.
Chinese Dance
The first flute begins the Chinese Dance with a solo that is meant to sound easy and effortless. Though the opening run is simply a Bb Major scale, practice it slowly first to help you focus on an even and brilliant tone quality amongst each note. I’ve also heard some flutists recommend using harmonics for the opening scale until you get to the high F – while I personally don’t, it may be worth exploring! Also, experiment with different trill fingerings for the high F to G to figure out which sounds the best on your instrument. Finally, for this opening passage, I recommend practicing it with a tuner because later on in the number, the second flute joins with the exact same thing – two flutes playing the same notes that are frequently out of tune, and it is very exposed.
Three quick additional notes before we jump ahead to Dance of the Mirlitons – (1) make sure to practice the Chinese Dance at different tempi to account for the conductor’s variety of interpretations. (2) Different editions of the Nutcracker utilize different articulations – pay extra special attention to the version you are being asked to play as it may have different articulations than the last time you played it! (3) Depending on your conductor, be prepared to cut off the last note of the piece earlier than written (speaking from experience here).
Dance of the Mirlitons
This lovely number is the flute section’s “showcase.” As such, it is always a good idea to make sure all three flutists are on the same page in regard to vibrato, phrasing, articulation, and breathing. Even if you’ve played it a million times before, I recommend checking with the principal flutist to see how they would prefer it played, and match what they do.
The third flute’s line is the trickiest in this number because they have the same short articulations as the first and second flutes but in the low register. Furthermore, the constant switching between flute and piccolo and the subsequent embouchure changes can make playing short in the low register on the flute especially difficult. If you’re on third flute/piccolo, make sure to create lots of space in your mouth, drop your jaw, don’t force the articulations, and keep them as light as possible.
One last heads up – be prepared to stretch measure 10 and measures 26-27.
Mother Ginger
To be honest, this is probably my least favorite number in The Nutcracker because it is so tricky, and it is super fast! I’ve heard from many professionals that they “fake” their way through the octave section in this number and I certainly do too – the purpose of all the octave slurs is for texture and color, and it’s not really heard amidst everything else going on (especially the notes in the low octave). Of course, you should still practice this section, but it’s okay if it’s not perfect! Like most tricky technical passages, start slow and work on slowly building up speed.
One of the best tips I can offer is to stay super loose in the octave jumps – try to find an embouchure position somewhere between the top and bottom octaves so you can hit both with minimal movement and effort. If you’re familiar with multiphonics, that’s the kind of embouchure we’re going after.
Some flutists also suggest adding the second trill key for the middle E – I haven’t tried this myself, but it may be useful for some players!
If you have any other tips and tricks that have been helpful while working on these excerpts from The Nutcracker, I’m all ears! My goal is to revisit this blog in the future and add information for additional excerpts, so stay tuned!
