From the score of The Nutcracker, completed in 1892 shortly before the composer's death in 1893. The music in Tchaikovsky's ballet is some of the his most popular. The music belongs to the Romantic Period and contains some of his most memorable melodies which are frequently used in television and film. One novelty in Tchaikovsky's original score was the use of the celesta, a new instrument Tchaikovsky had discovered in Paris that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic poem The Voyevoda (premiered 1891). He wanted it genuinely for the character of the Sugar-Plum Fairy to characterize her because of its "heavenly sweet sound". It appears not only in her "Dance," but also in other passages in Act II.
