The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. It's theme is simplistic and focuses on the conflicting forces of good and evil through the characters the Lilac Fairy (good) and Carabosse (evil).

 

At the premiere in 1890 Tsar Alexander III summoned Tchaikovsky to the imperial box. The Tsar made the simple remark 'Very nice,' which irritated Tchaikovsky, who had expected a more favorable and embellished response. 

 

The ballet's premiere received more favorable accolades than Swan Lake but Tchaikovsky never witnessed the works true success outside of Russia as he died in 1893. By 1903, The Sleeping Beauty was the second most popular ballet in the repertoire of the Imperial Ballet, having been performed 200 times in only 10 years.

 

The Sleeping Beauty is Tchaikovsky's longest ballet, lasting nearly four hours at full length.

Here is the waltz from Act I, also known as the Garland Waltz. It is the day of Princess Aurora's sixteenth birthday. In preparation to celebrate the Princess's birthday Catalabutte, the master-of-ceremonies discovers, in the town, peasants knitting with spindles. The King has forbid this activity on pain of death in response to the omen given by the evil fairy Carabosse at the child's christening, Carabossa predicting the child would prick her finger and die on her sixteenth birthday. The Queen calms the Kings rage and persuades the King to spare the peasants lives as it is their daughter's birthday. The towns-folk perform an elaborate dance with garlands to celebrate the sparing of life and to help conceal the spindles from the view of the Princess.