Fairy tales and classical music go together. Composers have set Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and dozens of other tales as ballets, operas, and pieces for orchestra. A child who knows the story is ready to follow the music. This page matches each tale to its piece.
Find your fairy tale
| Fairy tale | Piece | Composer | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinderella | Cinderella | Prokofiev | Ballet |
| Sleeping Beauty | The Sleeping Beauty | Tchaikovsky | Ballet |
| Hansel and Gretel | Hansel and Gretel | Humperdinck | Opera |
| The Nutcracker and the Mouse King | The Nutcracker | Tchaikovsky | Ballet |
| Tom Thumb, and Beauty and the Beast | Mother Goose | Ravel | Suite |
| The Arabian Nights | Scheherazade | Rimsky-Korsakov | Suite |
| The Firebird | The Firebird | Stravinsky | Ballet |
| Baba Yaga | Pictures at an Exhibition | Mussorgsky | Suite |
| The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | Dukas | Tone poem |
| A swan princess | Swan Lake | Tchaikovsky | Ballet |
Tales from France
The Sleeping Beauty, by Tchaikovsky. Princess Aurora pricks her finger and sleeps for a hundred years. Start with the Waltz. Read the ballet story and the listening guide.
Cinderella, by Prokofiev. Listen for the clock at midnight. Read the ballet story.
Mother Goose, by Ravel. Five short scenes: Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb lost in the woods, an empress and her tiny musicians, Beauty and the Beast, and a fairy garden. In “Beauty and the Beast,” a clarinet is Beauty, and a low contrabassoon is the Beast. See the Mother Goose guide.
Tales from Germany
Hansel and Gretel, by Humperdinck. Two children, a forest, and a witch with a house made of sweets. It began as a few songs for the composer’s nieces and nephews. Read Hansel and Gretel for kids.
The Nutcracker, by Tchaikovsky. The ballet comes from a German story about a girl, a toy nutcracker, and a battle with mice. Read the Nutcracker story.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, by Dukas. A young helper casts a spell on a broom and cannot stop it. The tale comes from a German poem. See the listening guide.
Tales from Russia
The Firebird, by Stravinsky. A prince, a glowing bird, and a wicked sorcerer whose soul is hidden in an egg. See the Firebird guide.
“The Hut on Fowl’s Legs,” by Mussorgsky. The witch Baba Yaga lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs. The music stomps and chases. See the Pictures at an Exhibition guide.
“Flight of the Bumblebee,” by Rimsky-Korsakov. In a Russian fairy tale, a prince is turned into a bee so that he can fly across the sea to see his father. See what to listen for.
Swan Lake, by Tchaikovsky. A princess is a swan by day and a woman only at night. Read the Swan Lake story.
Tales from farther away
Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov. A clever queen tells a king a new story every night for a thousand and one nights. A solo violin is her voice. Read Scheherazade for kids.
“In the Hall of the Mountain King,” by Grieg. A young man named Peer sneaks into the cave of the troll king in the mountains of Norway. Read the story.
The Magic Flute, by Mozart. A prince, a bird catcher, a queen of the night, and a flute with magic powers. Read The Magic Flute for kids.
Fairy tale guests at a wedding
In the last act of The Sleeping Beauty, the people of other fairy tales come to the wedding. Each pair has a short dance.
- Puss in Boots and the White Cat. Oboes and bassoons meow and hiss.
- The Bluebird and his princess. A flute and a clarinet flutter.
- Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Quick, nervous steps, with the Wolf close behind.
How music tells a fairy tale
- A tune for each character. The good fairy and the wicked fairy each have their own music.
- An instrument for each character. A duck is an oboe, and a wolf is three horns.
- Magic sounds. Harps, a celesta, and high, soft strings mean that a spell is at work.
- Danger sounds. Low brass, drums, and a growing roar.
Things to do together
Story first. Read the fairy tale at bedtime. Play the music the next day.
Guess the tale. Play a piece with no title given. Ask which fairy tale it could be.
Who is that? Play “Beauty and the Beast” from Mother Goose. Raise one hand for Beauty and the other for the Beast.
Draw the scene. Pick the moment in the story that the music is telling. Draw it.
Write the music. Pick a fairy tale that has no famous piece. Decide which instrument would play each character.
Print and play
Use a listening journal page for one tale. Read ballet stories for kids, what is program music?, and opera for kids.
More from this guide
This article is part of How to introduce kids to classical music.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.