And so begin the entertainments for Clara and Hans Peter in the Kingdom of Sweets. First up, a Spanish Dance representing Chocolate. Tchaikovsky had written a similar set of Divertissements in the third act of
Swan Lake (albeit without the culinary links), so Petipa needed to give very few instructions, just 'in 3/4 from 64 to 80 bars'. Here, Tchaikovsky's Iberian showpiece is less agressive than in the earlier ballet, with a Sarabande-like emphasis on the second beat. It is cast in relatively simple terms, rocking between the tonic (E flat major) and the dominant. A cheeky trumpet tune, with a counter melody in the clarinet (evoking hot chocolate), gives way to a tutti statement of the initial theme. Tchaikovsky uses the 'local colour' of castanets and a second theme is played by the strings (related in shape to the original trumpet melody). That melody returns in thirds before a chirruping plagal cadence.
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Artists of The Royal Ballet in the Spanish Dance
in The Royal Ballet's production of
The NutcrackerPhotograph © ROH/Johan Persson
