On Dec. 6th, 1892, "The Nutcracker Ballet" made it's debut at the Maryinsky Theater, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Despite Tchaikovsky's initial opinion that this was his worst piece of work, it became runaway hit, causing him to reacess his own evaluation. Since then, this holiday classic has been performed, filmed, reinterpeted, and parodied (some worse than others), from Hollywood, to New York, London, Paris, Vienna, Moscow, and it's hometown of St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, "The Nutcracker" was also his last, as he died of Cholera on Nov. 6th the following year, exactly 11months to the day of the ballet's first performance.

Of myself, "The Nutcracker" has always been my favorate piece of Christmas music, if not my favorate body of classical music, as I have been listening to it ever since I was a baby (maybe even earlier, according to my mom. Would explain why I'm so smart.), and I've been either listening to it, or seeing the ballet on tv (thank you Ovation), and it always manages to get me into the "Christmas Spirit" without fail. So to all, raise a toast and thank this remarkable composer for creating the greatest ballet of all time.