Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: An Evening of Fairy Tales

Since time immemorial, fairy tales have been a source of fantasy and wonder for the world’s greatest composers. Let your imagination run free as magical music from the worlds of ballet and opera conjure up princes, evil stepsisters and a fairy godmother.

Based on folk tales by the Grimm Brothers, Humperdinck began Hansel and Gretel as musical accompaniment to his sister’s Christmas songs, yet his sketches turned into one of the most adored operas of all time. The Prelude references many of the opera’s musical themes, including the famous ‘Evening Prayer’.

Prokofiev’s Cinderella captures the beloved fairy tale with joyous melodies, lush harmonies, and a feisty modernistic edge. A curated selection from this popular ballet takes you to the heart of the famous tale.

Tchaikovsky is the ultimate master of the musical fairy tale. A few weeks after the premiere of his second ballet, The Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky wrote to a friend: “In view of the fact that you are pleased with all the music for The Sleeping Beauty, what about making either one or even two suites from it?” Tchaikovsky’s idea proved a hit. The resulting Suite is a sublime distillation of Tchaikovsky’s tale of the beautiful Princess Aurora, cursed into a hundred-year sleep by the evil fairy Carabosse.