Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet (Opal Wheeler)

Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet

A great composer comes to life in this vivid, exciting story of Peter Tchaikovsky, a young man driven by his genius through the early years of his career and on to enviable success and world recognition.

Peter’s unhappy apprenticeship in law ended when he absentmindedly nibbled on and ruined an important legal document. If his family considered his failure a disgrace, to Peter it was an omen. Now he was free to pursue and perhaps capture the music that sang in his head.

When he left St. Petersburg to teach in Moscow, he took the first decisive step on his colorful road to fame. But success did not come easily, and Peter learned to endure the hard pinch of poverty before the wealthy Madame von Meck became his patroness, providing him with a generous income.

Always enchanted with the world of childhood and far more at ease in it than in the more demanding world of adults, Peter began to write ballets for his sister Alexandra’s children. The Sleeping Beauty was followed by Swan Lake, and finally he created The Nutcracker Ballet, which assured his place in the hearts of children and adults alike.

Opal Wheeler writes with happy and intimate warmth, portraying a great man as appealingly human, and presenting simple piano arrangements of six of his most familiar, best-loved compositions.

In the Great Composers Series, Opal Wheeler also wrote:

• Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff
• Ludwig Beethoven, and the Chiming Tower Bells
• The Young Brahms
• Mozart, the Wonder Boy
• Handel at the Court of Kings
• Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia
• Joseph Haydn, the Merry Little Peasant
• Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland (Early Years)
• Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland (Later Years)
• Edward MacDowell and his Cabin in the Pines
• Stephen Foster and his Little Dog Tray
• Paganini: Master of Strings
• The Story of Peter Tchaikovsky
• Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet
• Adventures of Richard Wagner