Alexandre Dumas
Tchaikovsky Research
French writer and playwright (b. 24 July 1802 [N.S.] at Villers-Cotterêts; d. 5 December 1870 [N.S.] at Puys), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, sometimes known as Alexandre Dumas père to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-1895).
Tchaikovsky's Settings of Works by Dumas
In 1891, Tchaikovsky wrote incidental music for a French production of Shakespeare's Hamlet in Saint Petersburg, in a translation by Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice (1818-1905) that had first been performed in Paris in 1847.
The libretto for Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker (1891-92) was based on Dumas' story Histoire d'un Casse-Noisette (1845), which was an adaptation of Der Nußknacker und Mausekönig (1816) by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822).
