Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky

The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, Op. 66, was written by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) between 1888 and 1889. Based on a libretto by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the well-known story borrows from versions by both the Grimm brothers and Charles Perrault, though characters such as the Lilac Fairy appear to have been additions by Vsevolozhsky himself. The work premiered on January 15, 1890, in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre, fellow ballet composer Riccardo Drigo conducting and choreography by the famed Marius Petipa. This newly engraved edition by Carl Simpson places a greater emphasis upon the first edition of the full score from 1890 than the subsequent Soviet edition issued by Muzgiz in 1952, but all variants have been preserved and placed within the score itself so that performers can easily make their own choice of which version is to be used for a particular movement. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2+EH.2.2: 4.2+2Crnt.3.1: Timp.Perc(3-4): Pno.Hp: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set).