Although the Dance of the Reed Pipes has no expressed national sentiment, Petipa asked Tchaikovsky for a Polka - a Czech 2/4 dance. It was to for up to 96 bars, with girls 'playing on little fifes made of reed, both ends of which are stopped with a piece of gold-beater's skin'. Called Mirlitons in French these were folk instruments prevalent in Central Europe. Petipa may have intended to continue the Slavic theme in these Divertissements. Whatever the local colour, Tchaikovsky responds with great delicacy. Pizzicato strings support the flutes' two-bar-phrased tune, which spans longer chromatic stretches towards cadences. The movement has a broader harmonic palate and the cor anglais gives a melancholic touch. As ever, these shadows are short-lived and the melody returns with violins providing a bouncing counter-melody. The brass dominate the second section, sitting uneasily in F# minor (an implied dominant of the relative minor of B minor). It feels that the music will resolve into B minor proper, but Tchaikovsky steers us back into D major for an elegant restatement of the tune. Far from the frenetic polkas of Dvořák or Strauss, this is a very elegant dance.Today's Track on Spotify.
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Iohna Loots as Clara and Artists of the Royal Ballet in The Nutcracker
Photograph © ROH/Johan Persson
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