We left the Ether Game toy chest open this week, and some of the toys who are fond of classical music came out to dance! We quizzed on music about toys coming to life, as we continue our month of seasonal shows. 

Victor Herbert (1859-1924) Babes in Toyland: March of the Toys Dublin-born composer Victor Herbert was already known as a composer, especially of works for cello, when he came to the United States in 1886 to join the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  His reputation today rests on the strength of his 40-plus operettas, including Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, and The Red Mill. “Babes in Toyland” premiered in Chicago in 1903, and was written to follow the success of an extremely popular staging of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. Many are familiar with the March of the Toys, which is often played at Christmas time.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Piano Concerto No. 2 in F, Op. 102, I. Allegro Shostakovich composed his second piano concerto after Stalin’s death in 1953. During this period, Soviet composers were able to express themselves more freely, and had less fear of government reprisal.  The second piano concerto was written for Shostakovich’s son, Maxim Shostakovich.  Maxim played the premiere of the concerto in 1957, on his 19th birthday. The first movement of the concerto was also adapted for Disney's second Fantasia project, Fantasia 2000, where it accompanied an animation based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Steadfast Tin Soldier. The second theme of the opening piano solo is a quick-paced march accompanied by a snare drum, marking the first appearance of the tin soldier come to life, in the animation. 

Sherman Brothers (1968) Doll on a Music Box During this musical number in the 1968 movie and 2002 stage musical, a life size wind up doll has been presented as a birthday gift to the bombastic baron of the fictional Vulgaria, a country where children have been outlawed by royal decree, and instead toys are made by the villagers for the baron and baroness. The wind-up doll sings this piece, and appears suspiciously human because…she is! She is the show’s leading lady, Truly Scrumptious, in disguise to infiltrate the baron’s castle, where children have been imprisoned in the tower. She is joined in song by a life-size marionette, who is actually Mr. Potts, the owner of the magical car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Together, they release the children, rescue Grandpa Potts, and escape back to England. 

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Nutcracker, Op. 71: Act I The twelve strikes of a mechanical clock, chiming the midnight hour, have appeared in operas, ballets and symphonies for several centuries. During the holiday season, one of its most famous applications occurs during the first act of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker. After the mysterious Godfather Drosselmeyer has gifted Clara a nutcracker soldier and the family Christmas party has ended, Clara returns to the living room to check on her nutcracker. As she admires the Christmas Tree, the great clock in the room strikes midnight and she notices Godfather Drosselmeyer perched above the clock. Suddenly the room fills with evil mice who go to war with a battalion of gingerbread soldiers. Clara’s nutcracker springs to life and leads the gingerbread soldiers to defeat the mouse king. From there, the nutcracker leads Clara to the wondrous kingdom of the Sugar Plum Fairy. 

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) La Boutique Fantasque[The Fantastic Toyshop] Before hiring Respighi to orchestrate it, famed ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev had already collected and arranged much of the music for La Boutique Fantasque from the piano music of Rossini. The whimsical story takes place in a doll shop, where different mechanical dolls dance and parade themselves before eager customers. The most exquisite dolls are a French couple who dance the can-can. However, two different families want the dolls, so the couple is separated and put into different boxes for delivery the next day. The other dolls are not having this, and magically come to life. A fight ensues, and the dolls drive the customers away as love triumphs over commerce 

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Petrushka Petrushka, from 1911, was the second work that Stravinsky produced for  the famous Ballet Russes ensemble. The work was primarily a collaboration between Stravinsky and the designer Alexandre Benois, who together came up with the scenario for the ballet, choreographed by Michel (Fo-KEEN)Fokine. The story takes place initially at a puppet theater during the Shrovetide festival in Russia, where a magician brings to life three of the puppets: a ballerina, a Moor, and the Petrushka, who is based on a stock puppet character similar to Punch from Punch and Judy. The character is made into a tragic figure when he is slain in his pursuit of love.  

Léon Jessel (1871-1942) Parade of the Wooden Soldiers Composer and conductor Leon Jessel was very popular in his time for his operettas and his short character pieces. Unfortunately the publication and performance of his music was suppressed by the Nazis throughout the 1930’s, however his work was quickly revived after World War II. His operetta Schwarzwaldmaden, or Black Forest Girl, which features a typical plot of romantic entanglements in a picturesque setting, is still considered one of the finest German operettas. His Parade of the Wooden Soldiers is singularly his most recognized work in the US, due to its continued use by the precision dance group the Radio City Rockettes in their annual holiday extravaganza.

Josef Bayer (1852-1913) The Fairy Doll: Vorspiel We heard Respighi’s La Boutique Fantastique earlier in the show; that ballet was inspired by Bayer’s 1888 ballet The Fairy Doll, which was originally titled In the Doll Shop. After the name change, The Fairy Doll became the most successful Viennese ballet of its time. It still holds a place on the Vienna State Opera’s schedule, and has been performed there over 800 times. The story of the ballet is a sort of 19th century Pixar’s Toy Story. Dolls come to life after their owner has left the shop for the night. They hold a big celebration and dance for their leader, the Fairy Doll. 

The Lonely Island, Joshua Bartholomew (2014) Everything is AWESOME!!! Believe it or not, this song was nominated for both an academy award and a Grammy, due in part because the movie it was created for, The Lego Movie, was a massive box-office hit, grossing 229 million dollars and ranking third on the most valuable blockbusters of 2014. Praised for its beautiful animation, humor and voice casting, the Lego Movie, made in partnership with the Danish company that created the iconic toy sets, is a nostalgic homage to over 50 years of miniature brick building and playtime, a comedy about what happens in the imaginary Lego world when a child starts mixing sets together in the real world, and a parental lesson about fostering creativity.