Fairy tale

A fairy tale (pronounced /ˈfeəriˌteɪl/) is a type of short story that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables.

In less technical contexts, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy tale ending" (a happy ending) or "fairy tale romance" (though not all fairy tales end happily). Colloquially, a "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any far-fetched story or tall tale; it is used especially of any story that not only is not true, but could not possibly be true. Legends are perceived as real; fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual times.

Fairy tale (disambiguation)

A fairy tale is a story featuring folkloric characters.

Fairy Tale(s) or Fairytale(s) may also refer to:

Literature

Dance

Film and television

Music

Albums

Fairy Tale (Suk)

Josef Suk wrote the music for Julius Zeyer's mythological drama Radúz and Mahulena in 1897-8. It was first performed on 6 June 1898, under the baton of Adolf Čech.

In 1899-1900, Suk extracted a four-movement Suite to this Pohádka (or Fairy Tale). Zeyer greatly impressed Suk. The style and orchestration is much affected by Richard Strauss (who was ten years Suk's elder), although Suk's writing is somewhat simpler. There are harmonic sideslips and turns of phrase that could almost have come out of Strauss's A Hero's Life (1898), yet Suk's manner is essentially simpler (and has at its centre the same lyricism which also makes his earlier Serenade such a delightful piece). Dvořák thought this Suite "music from heaven". The Suite was revised in 1912, and remains one of Suk's most successful works.

The four movements are: