HISTORY OF THE NUTCRACKER

Published in 1816, the original short story “The Nutcracker and the Mouseking” was written by German writer, composer, and painter Ernst Theodor Amadeus (E.T.A.) Hoffmann. However, Hoffmann’s original story looks quite a bit different from The Nutcracker we have come to know and love. His version of the fantasy was less Sugarplum Fairy and more eerie nightmare, in which the young Marie falls in love with her Nutcracker doll and experiences a violent fever dream in which the Nutcracker conducts gruesome warfare against the Mouse King, who, in Hoffmann’s original had not one, not two, but seven heads!

In 1845, French writer Alexandre Dumas adapted Hoffmann’s short story and published it as The History of a Nutcracker giving the story a lighter and more whimsical tone than the original. In 1891, the Director of Moscow’s Imperial Theatre, Ivan Vsevolozhsky commissioned the story to be turned into a ballet. Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky set it to music, and it was choreographed by Marius Petipa, who is widely considered the father of Russian ballet. The Nutcracker premiered at the Imperial Theatre a week before Christmas 1892 to mixed reviews. The Nutcracker would not be performed outside of Russia until 1934, when it was performed in England. Ten years later, the U.S. would stage its first performance at the San Francisco Ballet.

Whether you’re seeking out a charming Christmas classic, or prefer stories with dark and thorny undertones, The Nutcracker remains timeless in its appeal and innovation. From German origins, to French and Russian adaptation, to wild success across the Atlantic, it reminds us just how magical the season can be when you have a child’s eye for wonder and a mind for imagination.

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