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1) It’s based on a short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” but the plot was so complex it had to be simplified.
In Hoffmann’s original, both the Nutcracker and Clara (originally called Marie) are cursed into ugliness at different moments in the storyline. And there’s an entire story-within-a-story about a character named Princess Pirlipat, which audiences can see reinstated in Mark Morris Dance Group’s version, The Hard Nut:
2) It premiered in 1892 at the imperial Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg in Russia, but many problems led to the premiere’s delay.
The ballet was a difficult one for Tchaikovsky to write. Just as he was working on the second act and preparing to leave on an extended American tour, he learned of the death of his beloved sister, Sasha. “I feel the absolute impossibility of depicting the Sugar Plum Fairy in music,” he wrote to his brother after learning the news. One historian has even suggested the composer encoded an homage to his sister in the rhythm of the main melody of the Adagio, which resembles a line in the Russian Orthodox funeral service (“And with the saints give rest”):
3) It has enjoyed limited success in Russia but has been taken to heart by North Americans, who treat it as a December ritual.
The reviews of the first Nutcracker in St. Petersburg were mixed. The casting of children in major roles, the lavish decoration, and the unusual structure (all story and little dancing in the first act, then all dancing and no story in the second) led some critics to call the Nutcracker a “mere spectacle,” not satisfying “even one of the demands of a ballet.” The Nutcracker has had a warmer reception in the U.S. Its first appearances here were in the tours of Russian ballet companies. The first full-length professional American production was mounted by the San Francisco Ballet in 1944.
But the version choreographed by George Balanchine and nationally televised in 1958 made the Nutcracker an American holiday staple. Balanchine introduced the character of Drosselmeier’s nephew, whom Marie ends up marrying in the Hoffmann story. In Balanchine’s version, he and Clara “meet cute,” shaking hands in a dreamy way at the opening scene’s party. Later he transforms into the Nutcracker prince. You can see the full historic broadcast here. I’ve started it at the appearance of the Dew Drop, danced by Allegra Kent:
4) There are many versions, most of which contain bits of the original choreography by Lev Ivanov that premiered in 1892.
When the original choreographer Marius Petipa abandoned rehearsals, his assistant Ivanov took over direction of the dancers. Petipa’s notes for Trepak, the Russian dance in the second act, called for “turning on the floor,” referring to the athletic feats of the Russian character dance. Ivanov couldn’t make up his mind about the dance. He didn’t like the variations he came up with in rehearsal, and the dancer ended up choreographing his own solo.
As a result, today the Russian “Trepak” dance usually follows one of two traditions: it’s either an athletic Slavic dance featuring one or more males dressed in peasant clothes, or a candy cane dance with hoops. You can see both versions here.
The Slavic Trepak:
The candy cane hoop Trepak:
Over time, the Nutcracker has proven to be a wonderfully flexible, ritual-like holiday tradition. We invite you to join FSO and the NAU Community Music and Dance Academy to continue that tradition with us on December 1 and 2!