It seems to me, my dear friend, that the music of this ballet will be one of my best creations. The subject is so poetic, so grateful for music, that 1 have worked on it with enthusiasm and written it with the warmth and enthusiasm upon which the worth of a composition always depends." - Tchaikovsky, in a letter of 6th August, 1889 to his patron Nadia von Meck.

The story is the classic fairy tale: The wicked fairy Carabosse, angry at not being invited to the christening of the Princess Aurora, lays a curse: that one day she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The good Lilac Fairy can only modify the curse, not revoke it, so that Aurora will not die, but sleep for a hundred years, and will be woken by the kiss of a young Prince. Events turn out as foretold, and the Prince (named Desire) duly wakes her, marries her, and they all live happily ever after. Incidentally, the good fairy's name refers to the lilac tree, which signifies wisdom in Russian folklore, not the colour!

Current opinion mostly agrees with Tchaikovsky; no score of his possesses a finer flow of brilliant, attractive, memorable ideas, and does so in the context of a coherent large scale dramatic structure.

The movements in the suite are: (1) The opening of the ballet, which contrasts the fierce theme of the wicked Carabosse with the tender theme of the Lilac Fairy, (2) The "Rose Adagio", in which Aurora dances with four suitors who each give her a rose, shortly before she pricks her finger, (3) a gentle Andantino, in which the Lilac Fairy leads Prince Desire in her boat through the rivers of the enchanted forest to the castle where Aurora lies sleeping, and (4) a splendid waltz for the whole company, a wonderful expression of warmth and relaxation.