Duke Ellingtons «The Nutcracker Suite»

Klaus Henner Russius reads E. T. A. Hoffmanns «Das Märchen vom Nussknacker»

Christmas fairy tale, ballet, and jazz come together in a remarkable way in Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite. When Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn reimagined Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker for big band in 1960, they created far more than a jazz adaptation of the original score. The result was an independent work that transformed familiar melodies and characters into the language of jazz, with new rhythms, reimagined personalities, and the rich palette of a large ensemble.

The Sugar Plum Fairy becomes Sugar Rum Cherry, the March turns into the Peanut Brittle Brigade. These playful reinterpretations reveal Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s imaginative approach to the original material. While preserving the essence of Tchaikovsky’s music, they opened it up to the possibilities of jazz—buoyant swing, unexpected instrumental colours, and the distinctive voices of the individual musicians. The suite also demonstrates Ellington’s extraordinary ability to treat the big band not simply as an ensemble, but as an orchestra of remarkable richness and nuance.

Since 2021, actor Klaus Henner Russius has presented E. T. A. Hoffmann’s original tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King at Theater Rigiblick, while the Zurich Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Ed Partyka, performs Ellington and Strayhorn’s suite. Together, narration and music return to the literary origins of the story while showing how a familiar tale can be continually rediscovered through different artistic forms.