Combines an analysis of these ballets with a description of their first productions in imperial Russia. Separate sections of the text are devoted to the music of each ballet, and there is a background chapter on the collaboration between composer and ballet master, and Moscow of the 1860s.

Tchaikovsky's Ballets combines a detailed and thorough analysis of the music of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker with descriptions of the first productions of these works in Imperial Russia. A background chapter on the ballet audience, the collaboration of composer and balletmaster, and Moscow of the 1860's leads into an account of the first production of Swan Lake in 1877. A discussion of theater reforms initiated by the Director of the Imperial Theaters prepares the reader for a study of the still-famous 1890 St. Petersburg production of Sleeping Beauty. Wiley then explains how the Nutcracker, produced just two years after Sleeping Beauty, was seen in a much less favorable light than it is now. Separate chapters are devoted to the music of each ballet and translations of published libretti, choreographer's instructions to the composer, and the balletmaster's plans for Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker are reproduced in appendices.

'Wiley's study ... is by far the most detailed and illuminating account to date of Tchaikovsky's working relationships with the choreographers and designers of the Russian Imperial Ballet.' Bayan Northcott, BBC Music, November 1994