Nutcracker Story

Nutcracker Origin

The Nutcracker is a 1892 two-act classical ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve
at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child’s imagination, featuring a Nutcracker doll. The plot is an
adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s 1844 short story The Nutcracker, itself a retelling of E. T. A.
Hoffmann’s 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballet’s first choreographer
was Marius Petipa, with whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beauty,
assisted by Lev Ivanov. Although the complete and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not initially as
successful as the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, it
became popular in later years.

Since the late 1960s, The Nutcracker has been danced by many ballet companies, especially in North
America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from
performances of the ballet. Its score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann’s
story.

Tchaikovsky’s score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is
noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument the composer had already employed in his much lesser
known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (1891).

The Nutcracker Story

This is the Nutcracker Story for kids. It was Christmas Eve, and Marie was waiting for Uncle Peter. It was a tradition for Uncle Peter to give Marie presents the night before Christmas. Uncle Peter got a funny-looking nutcracker toy as a gift. Marie carefully put the nutcracker in the cabinet. That very night, Marie woke up to some strange noise. She saw a bunch of mice. Countless mice were running around. Even more shocking was the Mouse Queen with seven heads.

Just then, the nutcracker and other toys were jumping down from the cabinet. After the nutcracker drew his sword, the toy soldiers rushed after him, shooting their guns and sugar canons. The nutcracker soon became surrounded by the mice. Marie threw her shoe at the mouse queen to save the nutcracker, and then she fainted. Also, read The Gift of Christmas.

Marie woke, and she found herself in her own bed. She tried to explain what had happened the night before. However, no one believed her except Uncle Peter. Uncle Peter told Marie that there was a very interesting story about the nutcracker.

Uncle Peter started the story, ”Long, long time ago, the queen of mice hid in a royal palace. One day, she lost her seven sons to the trap that the king had ordered to be placed. The queen mouse cast an ugly spell on the princess. The princess could only reverse the spell if she could break open the hardest nutshell. And that’s where The Nutcracker Prince came in. As soon as the prince broke open the shell, the princess became beautiful again. However, the spell transferred to the prince and made him ugly instead. Easily forgetting what the prince had done for her, she chased him off.”

After hearing the story, Marie started to believe that her ugly nutcracker was the prince in the story. The very next morning, a handsome boy came to Marie’s house. The Prince of Toyland was there at the door. Because of her genuine love, his curse had been lifted. He asked Marie to marry him. And so, Marie became the princess of Toyland and lived happily ever after with her prince. You may also like to read, Twas the Night Before Christmas Story.

Happy Reading !!!

Recommend Reading:

Merry Christmas
The Elves and The Shoemaker
Papa Panov’s Special Christmas
The Little Match Girl
The Polar Express – by Chris Van Allsburg