1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,439 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. The first performance of the ballet The Nutcracker 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: took place in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on December sixth, eighteen 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,239 Speaker 1: ninety two, in the old style calendar that Russia was 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: still using at the time. That is December eighteenth on 5 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar we used today. 6 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: We are bringing our episode on the Nutcracker out us 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: today's Saturday. Classic course, it's one hundred and thirty third 8 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: birthday at least approximately if you sort of disregard the 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:34,560 Speaker 1: calendar math. This episode originally came out on December thirteenth, 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Please enjoy. Welcome to Stuff You Missed 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome 12 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 13 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: The Nutcracker. It has become such a huge tradition for 14 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: so many people around Christmas. I know, for my own part, 15 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: my mom and I went to the North Carolina School 16 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,479 Speaker 1: of the Arts production of The Nutcracker together for many, 17 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: many years. We had a family friend a little older 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: than me who went from being Clara as a child 19 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: to being asked to come back and be the Sugarplum 20 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,199 Speaker 1: Ferry after she had gone on to continue her dance 21 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: education in New York. For a whole lot of people, 22 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: the Nutcracker is the first ballet they ever experience, or 23 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,839 Speaker 1: maybe the only ballet they ever experience, And it's by 24 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: far the biggest show and the biggest source of ticket 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: revenue for a lot of ballet companies. And even if 26 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: you have never experienced this whole ballet, music from The 27 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: Nutcracker has also become a huge part not just of 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: the Christmas season, but also beyond it. Like I can 29 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: even remember a commercial from the nineteen eighties that set 30 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: a smurfberry crunch jingle to the march from Act one. 31 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 1: I will maybe sing that in our behind the scenes, Okay, 32 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: I will try to remember that. You just said that. 33 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: It's a little odd when you think about it, that 34 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: the Nutcracker ballet has become such a phenomenon, particularly in 35 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: North America, but it's also spread to other places too, 36 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: considering that it is a Russian adaptation of a German 37 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: story that was never really a Christmas staple in its 38 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: home country. So that is the story that we are 39 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: going to tell on the show today. The ballet The 40 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: Nutcracker is based on the eighteen sixteen story The Nutcracker 41 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 1: and the Mouse King by Arned Theodore Amadeus Hoffman or 42 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: Eta Hoffman. His name at birth was actually urned Theodore Viilhelm, 43 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: but he changed Vilhelm to Amadeus out of admiration for 44 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Hoffmann was born in seventeen seventy six 45 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: in Koenigsburg, Prussia now Kaliningrad, Russia. Although he spent most 46 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: of his adult life in what is now Germany, Kauffman 47 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: wore a lot of hats. He trained as a lawyer 48 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: and served as a law officer before turning his attention 49 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: to music. He worked as a composer and a music critic. 50 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: He was also an artist, a theater director, and a writer, 51 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: and his written work included a lot of fairy tales, 52 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: including works for children. His fiction tended to be pretty 53 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: haunting and strange, with stories that carried a whole sense 54 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: of ambiguity. They blurred the lines or toyed with the 55 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: relationships between imagination and reality, and this included his work 56 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: for young readers, even though a lot of children's literature 57 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: at that point tended to focus more on more heavy 58 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: handed didactic stories and morality tales. That wasn't the only 59 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: stuff being published, but a lot of it was very, 60 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: very moral. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is sometimes 61 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: described as the first fantasy written specifically for children. The 62 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: story contains fourteen short chapters, some of which just stop 63 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: rather than reaching any sort of logical pause in the narrative. 64 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: There is some speculation that it was broken up this 65 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: way so that it can be read one chapter per night, 66 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,679 Speaker 1: starting on Christmas Eve as the story does, and ending 67 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: with Epiphany on January sixth, so parts of the story 68 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: will be familiar to anyone who has seen The Nutcracker Belly. 69 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: The main character is a seven year old girl, although 70 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: her name is Maurice Stalbaum, not Clara Silberhouse, as it 71 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: is in a lot of productions of The Nutcracker. She 72 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: has a younger brother, Fritz, and an older sister, Louise, 73 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: although Louise does not play a big part in the story. 74 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: Their godfather, Drosselmeyer, is both beloved and a little frightening. 75 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 1: He is old and mysterious and wears an eye patch, 76 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: and he arrives on Christmas Eve with gifts for the fan. 77 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: One of those gifts is an ingenious clockwork palace, but 78 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: the children, especially Fritz, are quickly bored of it. The 79 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: clockwork figures just do the same thing over and over. 80 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: Then Marie finds a nutcracker among the other Christmas gifts. 81 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: Basic tools made to crack nuts have existed at least 82 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: since the fourteenth century, but carved wooden nutcracker dolls, typically 83 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: made to look like soldiers, started to become popular in 84 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: seventeenth century Germany. In the story, the nutcracker is meant 85 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: as a gift for everyone, but Marie is particularly taken 86 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,359 Speaker 1: with it and deeply upset when her brother breaks it 87 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: by forcing it to crack a nut that is much 88 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: too big. Marie tries to bind up the nutcracker's injury 89 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: with a ribbon, and Drosselmeyer does a more thorough repair. 90 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:54,559 Speaker 1: Later on that night, Marie puts the nutcracker to bed, 91 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: and that's where the name Clara comes in. Clara is 92 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 1: Marie's new doll, and Marie commandeer's Clara's doll bed so 93 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: that the nutcracker will have a comfortable place to recuperate. 94 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: As she is checking on the nutcracker late at night, 95 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,919 Speaker 1: Marie sees the mouse King and his army preparing for 96 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: a war against her brother's toy soldiers, who have all 97 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:20,359 Speaker 1: come alive. The doll Clara saves the Nutcracker when he 98 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: tries to make a foolhardy leap from the top of 99 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: a high shelf to join in the fray. Marie also 100 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: sees Drosselmeyer on top of the Grandfather clock in place 101 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: of the owl that is normally there, although he does 102 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: not intervene in the fight with the mice. After hitting 103 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,840 Speaker 1: the mouse King with her shoe, Marie swoons and later 104 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: wakes up in her own bed. So a lot of 105 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: what we have just said follows a lot of the 106 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: action of Act I in most productions of The Nutcracker, 107 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: so if you've seen The Nutcrackers, probably pretty familiar. But 108 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 1: then Hoffmann's story. Marie cuts her arm on a piece 109 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: of broken glass during this battle, and when Drosselmeyer comes 110 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 1: to visit her during her recovery, he tells her a story, 111 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: one involving a royal clockmaker also named Strosslemyre, and this 112 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: story within a story, clockmaker Drosslemyre served a king and 113 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: queen who had a beautiful baby daughter Princess Pearlapat. The 114 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: Queen was preparing fat to make sausages or puddings, which 115 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: were the King's favorite dish, when Lady mouse Rink, who's 116 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: basically the queen of the mice, asked her for some 117 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: of it. The Queen obliged, but then Lady mouse Rank 118 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: and her kin ate so much of the fat that 119 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: there was not enough left for the King's puddings. The 120 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: king was furious, and Drosselmeyer, the clockmaker, decided to use 121 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: his ingenuity to build traps to get rid of all 122 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: the mice. Lady mouse Rank, of course, did not appreciate 123 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: that so many of her kin were killed in the 124 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: royal family's new mouse traps, so she cursed Princess Perlipat 125 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: with ugliness. After consulting with the royal astrologer, Drossalmeyer determined 126 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: that Princess Pearl could only be cured with a supernaturally 127 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: hard krakatuc nut cracked open and presented to her by 128 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: a young man who had never been shaved and never 129 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: worn boots. After years and years of searching, Drosselmeyer finally 130 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: found a krakatuck nut in possession of his brother in 131 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: Nuremberg and his brother's son, so his nephew turned out 132 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: to have never been shaved and never worn boots. Uncle 133 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: and nephew returned to the palace with the nut, where 134 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: a long line of potential suitors lined up to try 135 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: to bite it open. All of them failed until the 136 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: younger Drosselmeyer that nephew, the last in line, succeeded, But 137 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: the young Drosselmeier and Princess Perlipat did not live happily 138 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: ever after. Just after breaking the curse on the princess, 139 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: the clockmaker's nephew accidentally stepped on Lady Moushrink, killing her. 140 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: With her dying breath. Lady Mousehrink cursed him, transforming him 141 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:05,239 Speaker 1: in to a nutcracker. Princess Pearlapat, horrified, banished the nutcracker 142 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: and his uncle, the clockmaker. The Royal Astronomer, who was 143 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,319 Speaker 1: also exiled for his role in all of this, predicted 144 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: that the Nutcracker's curse would be lifted only if someone 145 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: fell in love with him. Of course, at this point, Marie, 146 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: hearing this story, concludes that it is real that her 147 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: beloved Nutcracker toy is really the transmogrified nephew of the 148 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: Royal Clockmaker, and that royal clockmaker is none other than 149 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: her godfather Drossalmyer. Marie demands to know why Drosselemire is 150 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 1: not helping his nephew, after all, she saw him right 151 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: there on the clock on the night that the Nutcracker 152 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,439 Speaker 1: fought the mouse King. Once Marie has deduced what's going on, 153 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: the mouse King starts demanding tribute, eating his way through 154 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: all her treats and toys. Then one day she notices 155 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: that the Nutcracker has a spot of blood on his neck. 156 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: As she's cleaning it off, he asks for a sword. 157 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: She gives it to him, and he is finally victorious 158 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: in his fight against the mouse King, cutting off the 159 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:12,719 Speaker 1: mouse king seven heads and presenting Marie with seven little crowns. 160 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: The Nutcracker takes Marie to a magical kingdom with meadows 161 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: made of candy, a lemonade river, and towns made of 162 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: gingerbread and bonbonds. She soon learns that the Nutcracker is 163 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: the Prince of Comfeturemborg, or the Kingdom of Sweets. Marie 164 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 1: once again wakes up in her own bed, and when 165 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: she tries to tell her family what has happened. They 166 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: are dismissive, but soon her godfather, Drosselmeyer's young nephew arrives 167 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: from Nuremberg. The nephew thanks Marie for saving him, and 168 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: he proposes. A year and a day later, Marie and 169 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: the younger Drosselmeyer Mary and from there reign as King 170 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: and Queen of the Kingdom of Sweets. This whole story 171 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: is twisting and layered. It folds back on itself at 172 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:05,439 Speaker 1: various points. Marie often tells her parents what she's experienced 173 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: and seen, only for them to blame her fevered mind 174 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: and order her to stop telling such wild tales. As 175 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: her godfather Drosselmeyer tells her this story, he also suggests 176 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: that it's real, but then when he talks to her parents, 177 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: he dismisses what she's saying as fancy. As one example, 178 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: he tells her parents that the mouse King's seven crowns 179 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: are a gift that he gave her years before, certainly 180 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: not something belonging to a seven headed mouse king. Gaslighting. 181 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: The book's tone is fairly ominous, actually, and it draws 182 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: heavily from German romanticism. The brothers grim and they're dark 183 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: and sometimes gruesome. Collections of fairy tales date from around 184 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 1: this same time. Past podcast subject Casper David Friedrich was 185 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: another of Hoffman's contemporaries, and many of his landscapes have 186 00:11:55,920 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 1: a similarly eerie and foreboding, although still very beautif full feel. 187 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: But in eighteen forty four, more than twenty years after 188 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: Eta Hoffman's death, past podcast subject Alexandra dum Peir adapted 189 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 1: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and translated it into French. 190 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: The resulting book had the same basic plot and the 191 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: same sort of story within a story, but with a 192 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: tone that was generally a lot lighter and more cheerful 193 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: than the original. And it is this version that was 194 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: adapted into a ballet, or at least part of it was. 195 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: We're going to talk more about that after a sponsor break. 196 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: Pyotr Ilyitchchaikovsky was born in Russia in eighteen forty and 197 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: he started composing music by the age of four and 198 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: taking piano lessons at five. But Russia didn't have a 199 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: formal system of education for musicians and composers yet, so 200 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: it did not occur to his parents at first that 201 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: this could be a care for him, so they focused 202 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: his education on the idea that he would become a 203 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,439 Speaker 1: civil servant that eventually changed, though. He became one of 204 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: the first students at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory after it 205 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: was established in eighteen sixty two, and he eventually became 206 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: famous both within and outside of Russia, composing seven symphonies, 207 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: eleven operas and various concertos, cantatas, quartets, choral works, and 208 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: three ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. 209 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: And The Nutcracker Ballet was part of a two part 210 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: commission from Russia's Imperial Theaters in Saint Petersburg, the other 211 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: part being a one act opera. The ballet was his 212 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: second collaboration to include both Imperial Theaters director Ivan Vasevlovski 213 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: and French choreographer Marius Petipa, chief choreographer of the Imperial Ballet. 214 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: The three men had previously worked together on The Sleeping Beauty, 215 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: with Zevlovski commissioning the work, writing the libretto and being 216 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: heavily involved in the costume and set design, and Peteba 217 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: choreographing the ballet and providing detailed instructions to Chukowski on 218 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: the music. The Sleeping Beauty had been a success after 219 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: opening at the Marinski Theater in Saint Petersburg in eighteen ninety, 220 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: and Vesblovsky was hoping for something similar to happen with 221 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,120 Speaker 1: The Nutcracker. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King had become 222 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: a well known and widely read children's story, and he 223 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: chose Alexander Duma's adaptation of it as the ballet's starting point. 224 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: Even though classical ballet does not typically include spoken language 225 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: or narration, by the nineteenth century, the process of creating 226 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: a ballet generally started still with a libretto, a written 227 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: narrative laying out the story that the ballet would tell. 228 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: The composer, choreographer, set designer, and costume designer. Basically everyone 229 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: who worked on creating the ballet would rely on this 230 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: libretto to translate the story for the stage. The Nutcracker's 231 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: libretto is generally credited to both Zevalewski and Petipa, although 232 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: it was not entirely clear who did what in preparing it. 233 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: But the Nutcracker collaboration among these men did not seem 234 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: to have gone as well as it did with The 235 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: Sleeping Beauty. With both ballets, Petipa provided Chikovsky with detailed 236 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: instructions about the type of music that was needed, as 237 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: in the full ballet was broken down into its scenes 238 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: and dances and variations, with Petipah giving very precise instructions 239 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 1: about how many measures of what kind of music was 240 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: needed for each of them. It reads almost like a 241 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: shopping list. But in The Sleeping Beauty these notes and 242 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: the libretto they had added up to a story that 243 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: had deeper themes, which Daikovsky could explore through musical devices 244 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: like lip botifs. These represented aspects of the story while 245 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: also unifying the ballet. In addition to the story of 246 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: Princess Aurora, The Sleeping Beauty also dealt with themes of 247 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: good versus evil, and Tchaikowsky could just explore all of 248 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: this and represent it through music. Meanwhile, the libretto for 249 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: The Nutcracker had abandoned the deeper themes and ambiguities of 250 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: Hoffmann's story. The entire middle portion of The Nutcracker and 251 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: the Mouse King had been cut almost entirely, leaving only 252 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: the Christmas party, Drosalmeyer bringing gifts, the battle between the 253 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and the voyage to the 254 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: Kingdom of Sweets after a grand final walt The Nutcracker 255 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: was to end with an apotheosis with a bee hive 256 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: surrounded by bees. The main character, now named Clara, did 257 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: not return home after her travels through the Kingdom of Sweets, 258 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: so it really wasn't even clear what the point of 259 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: it all was. On top of his creative dissatisfaction, Tchikowsky 260 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: experienced depression and anxiety throughout his life, along with social 261 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: pressures and taboos stemming from his attraction to other men 262 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: at a time when homosexuality was both ill legal and 263 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: deeply stigmatized, and all of this may have fed into 264 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,880 Speaker 1: his struggle to get started on The Nutcracker. In April 265 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 1: of eighteen ninety one, he wrote to Zevlovsky about it, saying, 266 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 1: quote here in Ruon, I had to call on extraordinary 267 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: willpower to make an agonizing effort in order to work. 268 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:25,400 Speaker 1: As a result, what comes out is colorless, dry, hasty, 269 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 1: and wretched. The awareness that things are not going well 270 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: torments me and agonizes me to the point of sickness. 271 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: A consuming depression constantly gnaws at my heart, and I 272 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: have not for a long time felt as unhappy as now. 273 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: The day after Tchikovsky wrote this letter, he learned by 274 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:50,159 Speaker 1: reading it in a newspaper that his sister Alexandra had died. 275 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: He was, at that moment on the way to board 276 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: a ship for a tour of the United States, where 277 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: he would, among other things, conduct music he had composed 278 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,639 Speaker 1: at the grand open of Carnegie Hall. This would have 279 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: been terrible in any circumstance, but this was particularly terrible timing. 280 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: But Tchikowski did not cancel his tour or his appearances 281 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,919 Speaker 1: in the United States. Instead, it seems as though he 282 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: took this transatlantic voyage as a time to contemplate and 283 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,159 Speaker 1: to refocus. Music. Historians and theorists have noted that The 284 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 1: Nutcracker incorporates more borrowed folk melodies and existing musical themes 285 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: than most of his other work does, kind of suggesting 286 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: that once he did finally get under way, he still 287 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: had trouble feeling creative. There's also some suggestion that the 288 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: character of the Sugarplum Theory is meant to embody his 289 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,880 Speaker 1: late sister. He was known to the family as Sasha 290 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: Dchaikowski may not have been the only person who was 291 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 1: facing very real creative trouble with the Nutcracker. Although Marius 292 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: Petipah had been the one to write Chaikovsky's instructions for 293 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,360 Speaker 1: the music and initial notations for the choreography, he did 294 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: not choreograph most of the ballots. He became ill shortly 295 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,479 Speaker 1: after that work began, and he left most of it 296 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: to his assistant Lev Ivanov. According to Petipa's memoirs, Ivanov 297 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: did all the staging and choreographed all the dances. Pettipa 298 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: was seventy three when this happened, but there is some 299 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: speculation that he really wasn't all that sick and he 300 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: just kind of didn't want to work on this nonsensical show. 301 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: Ivanov worked from Petipa's notes, but he didn't always follow them. 302 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: For example, in Act two, Petipah called for quote Treypak 303 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: for the end of the dance turning on the floor. 304 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: Trey Pak is a folk dance from Ukraine and Russia, 305 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: but Ivanov took this piece in a totally different direction, 306 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: using hoops and lead dancer Alexander Shuriev choreographed his part himself. 307 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: This is why in some productions of The Nutcracker day 308 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: Treypak is this intensely athletic dance full of leaping and squatting, 309 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 1: and dancers that are dressed as like peasants or maybe 310 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:03,119 Speaker 1: cossacks will and others they are in candy stripes and 311 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: dancing with hoops. If you've only seen the first version, 312 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:11,160 Speaker 1: the first time you've seen the second one, you might 313 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: feel like it was a rip off. Yeah. Jakowski compiled 314 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,919 Speaker 1: a Nutcracker suite featuring selections from the ballet, which was 315 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: first performed in March of eighteen ninety two, and the 316 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,719 Speaker 1: full ballet premiered at the Mariinski Theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 317 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,440 Speaker 1: on December eighteenth of that year or December sixth under 318 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: the old style calendar. It followed Chaikovski's one act opera Yolanta, 319 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 1: which had also been the other part of this commission. 320 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: One of the criticisms of Daikowsky's work during his lifetime 321 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 1: was that it was not Russian enough. But The Nutcracker 322 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: includes several elements that are really hallmarks of this period 323 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: of Russian theater and ballet. This is really considered to 324 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,800 Speaker 1: be Russian ballet's golden age. Czar Alexander the third was 325 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: a patron of the arts in the theater and a 326 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: lot of the work it was created during his reign 327 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: involved dramatic sets and costumes and the sorts of spectacles 328 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,160 Speaker 1: that the czar generally enjoyed. Much of the second act 329 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: of The Nutcracker is also essentially a court celebration, with 330 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 1: Clara as a guest to the Kingdom of sweets being 331 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: presented with a pageant of all of the Kingdom's best 332 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,640 Speaker 1: and brightest, and some of this court review highlights Russia 333 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:28,440 Speaker 1: in its presentation, especially the series of Spanish, Chinese, Arabian 334 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: and Russian dances also known as Chocolate Tea Coffee Tripak. 335 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: Especially in Petipa's original notations, Trippak was to be the showstopper, 336 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,360 Speaker 1: suggesting that Russia was the best among nations. These dances 337 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: combine with others in Act two to suggest the idea 338 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: of many nations living together harmoniously under the rule of 339 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: one benevolent monarch, that is the Sugarplum Fairy, along with 340 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: her prints. A twenty sixteen article in the journal Dance 341 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: Research by Damien Maye also explores the idea that the 342 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: use of French songs and costumes inspired by fashion of 343 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 1: the French Revolutionary era allude to the alliance between France 344 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 1: and Russia that developed in the eighteen nineties, and Tzar 345 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 1: Alexander the third does seem to have liked this ballet. 346 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,119 Speaker 1: Djaikowsky wrote a letter to his brother saying that the 347 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: Czar quote was delighted and sent for me to his 348 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: box and said a whole lot of kind words. I 349 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: love that, a whole lot of kind words. It's just 350 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: a great turn of phrase. But as for everybody else, 351 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: reviews a little bit mixed, and the bad reviews were 352 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: often explicitly and pointedly bad. People pointed out the same 353 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 1: aspects of the libretto that had caused Chaikowsky so much frustration, 354 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: including the fact that Act one and Act two almost 355 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: felt like two totally different ballets, neither of which made 356 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: a whole lot of sense. Some critics insisted that Act 357 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: one was barely a ballet at all. People mostly stood 358 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: around and pantomimed the words of one critic quote. First 359 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,360 Speaker 1: of all, the Nutcracker can under no condition be called 360 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: a ballet. It does not satisfy even one of the 361 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 1: demands of a ballet. Ballet, as a basic genre of art, 362 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: is mimed drama, and consequently must contain all the elements 363 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: of norm drama. On the other hand, there must be 364 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: a place in ballet for plastic attitudes and dances made 365 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: up of the entire essence of classical choreography. There is 366 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: nothing of this in The Nutcracker. There is not even 367 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,360 Speaker 1: a subject. And also the stage was full of children. 368 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: At this point in Russian ballet history, younger ballet students 369 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: did not usually share the stage with older teens and adults. 370 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,119 Speaker 1: Reviewers bemoaned the fact that this ballet seemed to have 371 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: been made by children for children. To add to that, 372 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,679 Speaker 1: many of the boys in it were not dance students 373 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 1: at all. They had been recruited from a military academy. 374 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,680 Speaker 1: The focus on children in the ballets first act also 375 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:02,399 Speaker 1: meant that the most riching balletic performances done by the 376 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: company's most prominent dancers didn't happen until very late in 377 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: the evening in act too, and because the Nutcracker followed 378 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: this other one act opera, that meant that they got 379 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: on stage very very late. People felt like they had 380 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 1: watched a whole opera and then a bunch of kids 381 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: running around for an hour before the real ballet even started. 382 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: And then that ballet was over with no real resolution. Overall, 383 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: though Tchaikowski's score was praised, although sometimes that praise was 384 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 1: a little bit backhanded, as in quote in some it's 385 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: a pity that so much good music is expended on 386 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,439 Speaker 1: such nonsense, so unworthy of attention, But the music in 387 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: general is excellent. Dchaikowski clearly had huge trouble getting started 388 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:50,120 Speaker 1: and found the early work on the ballet incredibly difficult, 389 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 1: but it does seem that he was pleased enough with 390 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: the score once he was actually done with it. One 391 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,119 Speaker 1: thing to note here is that we don't actually have 392 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: the choreography from the nutcra debut performances. Petipi's instructions to 393 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 1: Chaikovsky have survived, along with his notes and the libretto, 394 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,639 Speaker 1: but the oldest surviving set of more complete, comprehensive notes 395 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: was not written down until a few years later, so 396 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 1: it's not really clear whether any of the criticisms of 397 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,879 Speaker 1: the dancing itself led the choreography to evolve over the 398 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: Marinski Theaters eighteen ninety two to ninety three ballet season 399 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: once that season was over, though it does not appear 400 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 1: that major changes were made to the Nutcracker until after 401 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: the Russian Revolution. While the ballet's reception was mixed to poor, 402 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: its music became far more popular, particularly the Nutcracker Suite. 403 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,160 Speaker 1: Orchestras in Europe and North America started performing the Nutcracker 404 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: Suite in the early to mid eighteen nineties, and it 405 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: became widely recognizable on both sides of the Atlantic. It 406 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: wasn't until decades later that the Nutcracker became a winter 407 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: holiday tradition, though you will talk more about that. After 408 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: a spomp break after the eighteen ninety two to eighteen 409 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: ninety three ballet season, the Nutcracker only made spotty appearances 410 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: on Russian stages for a while. Sometimes companies performed only 411 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: the second act or a selection of highlights. The ballet 412 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,120 Speaker 1: was revived in nineteen oh nine, and in nineteen nineteen 413 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: Alexander Gorsky staged a version that combined the character of 414 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 1: Clara with the sugar Plum Ferry for the first time. 415 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:40,200 Speaker 1: Vasili Vainonen introduced new choreography in nineteen thirty four, also 416 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: casting adult dancers and what had originally been children's rolls. 417 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: But overall the Nutcrackers appearances on Russian and then Soviet 418 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: stages it was pretty spotty. Although the narrative takes place 419 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: at Christmas, it also was not a Christmas standard. Easter 420 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,040 Speaker 1: is really the more important and festive holiday in the 421 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: Eastern Orthodox Church. The Soviet Union also banned Christmas celebrations 422 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,719 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen twenties, leading to the rise of 423 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: New Years as a secular holiday. The Nutcracker was performed 424 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: outside of Russia and the Soviet Union for the first 425 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: time in nineteen thirty four. That was in London, based 426 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 1: on choreographic notes by Nicholas Serjeyev, who had been the 427 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: company manager of the Imperial Ballet in Saint Petersburg. When 428 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: he left Russia in nineteen eighteen. He had taken the 429 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: choreography for more than twenty ballets with him. They had 430 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,679 Speaker 1: been recorded using a dance notation method that had been 431 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: developed by Vladimir Ivanovitch Stepanov. In nineteen forty, the ballet 432 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,639 Speaker 1: Rue de Monte Carlo presented selections from The Nutcracker while 433 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: on tour in the US. Then Disney's Fantasia debut in 434 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 1: theaters on November thirteenth of nineteen forty. This film was 435 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,040 Speaker 1: not a financial success, in part because World War II 436 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,400 Speaker 1: shut down movie theaters in Europe, but it is credited 437 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:05,959 Speaker 1: with popularizing classical music in the United States, including selections 438 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: from the Nutcracker Suite. Some of the Nutcracker pieces in 439 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: Fantasia include the Dance of the sugar Plump Fairy, during 440 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 1: which fairies flitter about, opening flowers and sending dewdrops down spiderwebs. 441 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: Mushrooms twirl around during the Chinese dance. There are long 442 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: tailed fish that gracefully swim around in coffee, and thistles 443 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: that very energetically dance during trepak. Although neither the fish 444 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: nor the mushrooms are human, they both retain some of 445 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: the exoticized stereotype depictions that are often part of the 446 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: Nutcracker ballet. During the Chinese and Arabian dances, the mushrooms, 447 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 1: for example, have slanted eyes and a posture that suggests 448 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 1: they're wearing robes, and the fish's movement and sensual demeanor 449 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: suggests a harem. Fantasia has a content warning when viewed 450 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: on Disney Plus Today know voting that it quote includes 451 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: negative depictions and or mistreatment of people or cultures, although 452 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: that's usually interpreted as referencing centaurs who appear in the 453 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: pastoral Symphony, some of which have been cut out of 454 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:16,720 Speaker 1: the current version of the film. When introducing the Nutcracker 455 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: Sweet portion of Fantasia, narrator Deems Taylor explains that the 456 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: Nutcracker Sweet is part of a ballet that wasn't much 457 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: of a success and quote nobody performs it nowadays. That 458 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: was more or less true in nineteen forty, but today 459 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 1: that sentence is hilarious. Four years after Fantasia, the San 460 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 1: Francisco Ballet staged the first US performance of the full 461 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: Nutcracker Ballet. The Ballet's founder and choreographer William Christiansen's talked 462 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: through ideas for it with choreographer George Balanschein and Alexandra 463 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: Danilova of Ballet Russ. Christiansen had never actually seen the 464 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: full Nutcracker Ballet and later that these conversations, and particularly 465 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: Balanchine's insights, had a huge influence on the San Francisco production. Then, 466 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty four, The Nutcracker opened at the New 467 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: York City Ballet with choreography by co founder George Balanchine, 468 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: whose name has been anglicized from George Balanshivadza. He was 469 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in nineteen oh four, and 470 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: he had studied at the Imperial School of Ballet and 471 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 1: the Marionski Theater. He appeared in productions of The Nutcracker 472 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,880 Speaker 1: before the Russian Revolution, which means that he learned and 473 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,120 Speaker 1: observed choreography that had started with Petepah and Ivanov back 474 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century. He also learned other versions by 475 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:44,240 Speaker 1: other choreographers before leaving Russia in nineteen twenty four. Lincoln 476 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: Kirstein invited Ballanchin to the US in nineteen thirty three 477 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: to establish the School of American Ballet and the American 478 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: Ballet Company. Kirstein and Balanchin went on to establish the 479 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: New York City Ballet in nineteen forty eight. In the 480 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: New York City Ballets nineteen fifty four, Nutcracker passed podcast 481 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: subject Maria Tallchief, danced the part of the Sugarplum Ferry. 482 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 1: Tall Chief was a citizen of Osage Nation and is 483 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 1: regarded as the first prima ballerina in the United States. 484 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: In this version, the young protagonist's name is Marie rather 485 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: than Clara and Marie. The Nutcracker prints and other roles 486 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: in this first and were danced by almost forty children 487 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: from the School of American Ballet. This production was also 488 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: one in which Trey Pak features dancers dressed in candy 489 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: stripes dancing with hoops. Although Balanchine's Nutcracker first opened on 490 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 1: February second of nineteen fifty four, it quickly became the 491 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,520 Speaker 1: heart of a special holiday ballet season, and the New 492 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: York City Ballet has performed it every year since then. 493 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: A lot of what made The Nutcracker so reviled in 494 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: Russia in eighteen ninety two had nearly the opposite effect 495 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: in the United States in nineteen fifty four. It was 496 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:56,800 Speaker 1: still not a show that made a lot of sense 497 00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: from a plot standpoint, but it captured a sense of 498 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: childlike holiday wonder. The audience response was less oh, what 499 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: are these children doing here? This is ballet, and more, Oh, 500 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: look at those kids, they're adorable. This is wholesome family entertainment. 501 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: Even without a logical plot to follow, the Nutcrackers seemed 502 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: to celebrate values like home and family and holiday cheer, 503 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: and that was not an accident. Balanchine and the rest 504 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: of the creative team at the New York City Ballet 505 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 1: had understood that their company desperately needed something that could 506 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: have mass appeal, and the Nutcracker wound up suiting that 507 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: need extremely well. And even though this was happening during 508 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: the Cold War, when the United States was deeply and 509 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: increasingly distrustful of the Soviet Union, which makes it seem 510 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 1: real weird that people would get so excited about a 511 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: Russian ballet, ballet was actually something of an exception. One 512 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 1: of the many, many ways that the US and the 513 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: USSR maintained a rivalry and competed with each other during 514 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: the Cold War was through dance and ballet, Specifically, an 515 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,800 Speaker 1: abridged version of the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker aired 516 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,959 Speaker 1: on CBS in nineteen fifty seven, and then a somewhat 517 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: more complete version aired the following year in nineteen fifty eight, 518 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: with Balanchine in the role of Drosselmeyer. In the nineteen 519 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 1: fifty eight version, June Lockhart, who had recently replaced Chloris 520 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: Leachman as Timmy's adoptive mother on the TV show Lassie, 521 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: provides an opening introduction in which she says, quote, Christmas 522 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: Day isn't Christmas without a real old fashioned story of 523 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: magic and miracles. Two televised ballets two years in a 524 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: row established the Nutcracker as an invented tradition that reminds 525 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: me a little bit of the Yes Virginia story that 526 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 1: had a similar trajectory. So Valentine's Nutcracker was huge for 527 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: the New York City Ballet and for ballet as a whole. 528 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 1: As its popularity spread, it became the production that ballet 529 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: companies used to help fund the rest of the season, 530 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 1: sometimes getting about half of the year's ticket revenue just 531 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 1: from the Nutcracker. That, of course, is a blessing and 532 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: a curse. One widely repeated quote that's often attributed to 533 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,160 Speaker 1: dance critic Richard Buckle is that each Christmas quote, we 534 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:22,360 Speaker 1: are all one nutcracker closer to death. For much of 535 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: its history, before this point, ballet had typically been performed 536 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: on grand stages and before royal courts, and while the 537 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,560 Speaker 1: Nutcracker is certainly still performed among elite dance companies on 538 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: prestigious stages, it's also found a home in places like 539 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: elementary schools and youth centers. It has spurred on the 540 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 1: popularity of ballet as an art form. The popularity of 541 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,799 Speaker 1: the Nutcracker also goes beyond ballet. It's one of the 542 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:54,279 Speaker 1: reasons why decorative nutcrackers ultimately spread beyond Germany, especially as 543 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: holiday decorations. In nineteen sixty one, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy 544 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: chose nutcracker ballet themed decorations for a Christmas tree in 545 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,560 Speaker 1: the Blue Room at the White House, and that established 546 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,719 Speaker 1: the tradition to have a themed Christmas tree at the 547 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: presidential residence. Sadly, the people who were most involved in 548 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: the original creation of the nutcracker did not live to 549 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:20,800 Speaker 1: see this success and influence. Lev Ivanov died in nineteen 550 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,160 Speaker 1: oh one at the age of sixty seven. Ivan Vezevlovski 551 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: died in nineteen oh nine at the age of seventy four, 552 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: and Marius Petipah died in nineteen ten. He was ninety 553 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:34,600 Speaker 1: two at that point. All three of them outlived Pyotr Ilietzchikovsky, 554 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 1: who died on November sixth, eighteen ninety three, or October 555 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: twenty fifth in the old style calendar. His cause of 556 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,279 Speaker 1: death at the time was reported as cholera, but there 557 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 1: is also speculation that he took his own life, and 558 00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: that this may have been connected to a matter of 559 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: honor related to his sexual orientation. He was only fifty 560 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 1: three at the time, and the Nutcracker was his last ballet. 561 00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,319 Speaker 1: One of the things that we've touched on a little 562 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:03,880 Speaker 1: bit is the parts of the Nutcracker often involve racist stereotypes, 563 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: especially the national dances of Spanish or chocolate, Arabian or coffee, 564 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:13,560 Speaker 1: Chinese or tea, and Russian or Traypack. Traypack, of course, 565 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:17,120 Speaker 1: was meant to be a reflection of Russian ideals, including 566 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 1: bravery and physical and military prowess, especially in its original 567 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,799 Speaker 1: conception as a folk dance. Although the music for the 568 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:28,880 Speaker 1: Arabian dance is adapted from a Georgian lullaby, it and 569 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,879 Speaker 1: the Spanish, Arabian and Chinese dances have historically all used 570 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,280 Speaker 1: musical elements and costumes and choreography to suggest some racial 571 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,880 Speaker 1: and ethnic stereotypes. How or whether ballet companies staging The 572 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,839 Speaker 1: Nutcracker have dealt with this in more recent years is 573 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:48,799 Speaker 1: really all over the place, from making zero changes to 574 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,600 Speaker 1: re envisioning those pieces in a completely different direction, to 575 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: hiring dancers from places like China and the Middle East 576 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,839 Speaker 1: to re choreograph those pieces in a more authentic way. 577 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:04,359 Speaker 1: Has also proved itself to be almost infinitely adaptable. At 578 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: this point, there are multiple film and TV versions, along 579 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:12,719 Speaker 1: with prequel sequels and reimaginings. Although many stage productions are 580 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: based on Balanchine's choreography or on other choreography that has 581 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,959 Speaker 1: its roots in the work of Petebah and Ivanov, there 582 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 1: are so many others who are going to list just 583 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: a few examples. In the nineteen eighties, the Pacific Northwest 584 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,799 Speaker 1: Ballet and choreographer Kent Stoll wanted to return to the 585 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,520 Speaker 1: spirit of Eta Hoffman's original story. To that end, they 586 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,399 Speaker 1: brought in Maurice Sendak to design the sets and write 587 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 1: the libretto for a new staging of The Nutcracker. This 588 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:44,440 Speaker 1: became the Pacific Northwest Ballet's version of The Nutcracker for 589 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 1: about three decades, and it was released as a film 590 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:51,279 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty six. They also published a translation of 591 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,799 Speaker 1: Eta Hoffmann's story as a book that was translated by 592 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:59,719 Speaker 1: Ralph Mannheim and accompanied by Sendak's illustrations. A version called 593 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:03,440 Speaker 1: nut debuted in Brussels in nineteen ninety one, and it 594 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:07,600 Speaker 1: uses Dchaukowski's score and is based on the Eta Hoffman story, 595 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,160 Speaker 1: but it is a satiric comedy with choreography by Mark 596 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,120 Speaker 1: Morris and a production designed based on the work of 597 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 1: illustrator and cartoonist Charles Burns. Harlem Nutcracker debuted in nineteen 598 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 1: ninety six, choreographed by Donald Byrd and working off of 599 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,800 Speaker 1: Duke Ellington and Billy Streehorn's arrangement of the Nutcracker suite 600 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: and in this ballet, Clara is a widowed grandmother facing 601 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 1: her first Christmas without her late husband. Debbie Allen Dance 602 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:39,320 Speaker 1: Academy's Hot Chocolate Nutcracker incorporates all kinds of different music 603 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: and dance styles, with the rats narrating the story. Parts 604 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,280 Speaker 1: of this are shown in the twenty twenty documentary Dance 605 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,120 Speaker 1: Dreams Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. And then there are also just 606 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,799 Speaker 1: smaller special touches that ballet companies around the world have 607 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: used to ground their productions of the Nutcracker in a 608 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 1: particular time and place, and that includes in its home 609 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:04,880 Speaker 1: of Russia, Moscow. Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker includes a giant 610 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:09,320 Speaker 1: Matrushka doll and Russian folk figures like dead Morotz and Snagrushka. 611 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:13,400 Speaker 1: This ballet's heroine is known as Masha, which is a 612 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:19,040 Speaker 1: Russian derivative of the name Marie own Nutcracker. We'll talk 613 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,560 Speaker 1: about some more Nutcracker stuff in the behind the scenes 614 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,360 Speaker 1: because it's so much I have experience as an audience 615 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:34,040 Speaker 1: member and you have experience as a dancer. Yep, thanks 616 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,960 Speaker 1: so much for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd 617 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:38,920 Speaker 1: like to send us a note, our email address is 618 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:43,680 Speaker 1: History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe 619 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,799 Speaker 1: to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 620 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:50,560 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.