Introduction

Musical Links Investigation
For the musical links investigation, the pieces that I will be looking at are Joy to the World by Isaac Watts and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While both pieces today are used around Christmas time, to spread the spirit and cheer of the event, the songs come from distinctly different cultures and time periods. Joy to the World was written during the Baroque era of music in England, as piece written for the church to celebrate the holy aspect of Easter (however at a later date it was decided that it was more of a Christmas piece). Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy however, was written during the Romantic era, during the beginnings of the Russian revolution. The piece was written for the Nutcracker ballet as a part of the Grand Pas de Deux.