Q 01/05

Who composed the music for The Nutcracker?

A) Sergei Prokofiev

B) Igor Stravinsky

C) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

D) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Answer · why

C) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

It was his third and last ballet. He also wrote Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

Q 02/05

In which year did the ballet premiere?

A) 1877

B) 1892

C) 1905

D) 1921

Answer · why

B) 1892

The first performance was at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on 18 December. It was not considered a success at the time.

Q 03/05

At which theatre was the ballet first performed?

A) The Imperial Mariinsky

B) The Bolshoi Theatre

C) The Paris Opera House

D) La Scala in Milan

Answer · why

A) The Imperial Mariinsky

It sits in Saint Petersburg. The premiere took place four days before Christmas in 1892.

Q 04/05

Which choreographer took over when Marius Petipa fell ill?

A) Alexander Gorsky

B) Michel Fokine

C) Enrico Cecchetti

D) Lev Ivanov

Answer · why

D) Lev Ivanov

He had been Petipa's assistant for seven years. Petipa had begun the choreography in August 1892.

Q 05/05

The ballet's plot comes from an 1844 French adaptation by which writer?

A) Victor Hugo

B) Charles Perrault

C) Alexandre Dumas

D) Jules Verne

Answer · why

C) Alexandre Dumas

His 1844 story retold a German tale from 1816. The Russians worked from the French version, not the original.