The Story Behind The Nutcracker Ballet
A History of the Tale that was Transformed into the Famous Ballet
Dec 21, 2008
But where did the story behind The Nutcracker ballet originate, and how did a little wooden novelty become one of the world's most recognizable protagonists?
The Nutcracker Ballet is based on a story called "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" written by an 18th-century German writer, composer, and critic known as E.T.A. Hoffman (E.T.A. Hoffman being his pen-name; his actual name was Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffman).
Hoffman wrote Romanctic stories of horror and fantasy, and "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," written in 1816, incorporates elements of both; indeed, the story combines love, violence, and the grotesque in a way that rivals the works of Byron and even Poe.
Hoffman's Original Story
Those familiar with The Nutcracker ballet will be familiar with the story that frames "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"; this framing narrative involves a little girl named Marie and her brother Fritz who receive a nutcracker from their godfather, an inventor named Drosselmeyer. Fritz plays too roughly with the toy and breaks some of its teeth, but the gentle Marie bandages it and stays up late to nurse it back to health. After everyone else has fallen asleep, Marie witnesses an extraordinary sight as the house is suddenly filled with mice who threaten Marie and the nutcracker, but the nutcracker and other Christmas toys all inexplicably come to life and fight back.
This is where the story begins to differ from the ballet version. Marie watches the battle between the mice and toys until she eventually faints, and the next morning her parents explain that she must have imagined or dreamed the event. Then Drosselmeyer tells Marie a story about a princess named Pirlipat who, after a bizarre series of events, is turned into a strange creature with a wooden head and white beard by a vengeful mouse queen. Drosselmeyer explains that his own nephew was the one who eventually cured the princess, but in the process, he himself was transformed into a similarly grotesque creature, thus becoming the nutcracker.
That night, the relentless army of mice returns, and for several nights afterward Marie and the nutcracker must fight them off. Eventually the mice are vanquished. Shortly after, Marie proclaims that she will always love the nutcracker in spite of his appearance, and the nutcracker turns back into who he really was all along: Drosselmeyer's nephew, who was cursed to remain in his doll form until he found love. The two are married and depart to reign over the Doll Kingdom.
The Ballet Adaptation
Of course, this all seems quite convoluted when compared with the plot of the ballet. However, Hoffman's version was streamlined by famed French writer Alexander Dumas in the 1844. Dumas called his version "The Story of a Hazlenut-cracker," and in the 19th century, Director of the Imperial Theaters Ivan Alexandrovitch Vsevolojsky came up with the idea of adapting this version into a ballet. He approached choreographer Marius Petipa and composer Peter Tchaikovsky with the idea.
When The Nutcracker was first performed in Russia in 1892, it was poorly received. It would go though several revisions over the coming decades, and finally be re-imaginged in 1954 by famed choreographer George Balanchine, before becoming the international hit it is today.
For more information on the The Nutcracker ballet and its history, visit About.com (category: Classical Music); Balletmet.org and Balletandfriends.org.
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