<P> The Nutcracker ( Russian : Щелкунчик , Балет - феерия / Shchelkunchik , Balet - feyeriya listen ( help info ) ; French : Casse - Noisette , ballet - féerie ) is a two - act ballet , originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( op . 71 ) . The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann 's story `` The Nutcracker and the Mouse King '' , by way of Alexandre Dumas ' adapted story `` The Nutcracker '' . It was given its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on Sunday , December 18 , 1892 , on a double - bill with Tchaikovsky 's opera Iolanta . </P>
<P> The Nutcracker ( Russian : Щелкунчик , Балет - феерия / Shchelkunchik , Balet - feyeriya listen ( help info ) ; French : Casse - Noisette , ballet - féerie ) is a two - act ballet , originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( op . 71 ) . The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann 's story `` The Nutcracker and the Mouse King '' , by way of Alexandre Dumas ' adapted story `` The Nutcracker '' . It was given its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on Sunday , December 18 , 1892 , on a double - bill with Tchaikovsky 's opera Iolanta . </P>
who composed the music for the nutcracker ballet
who composed the music for the nutcracker ballet
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky