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The first performance of Tchaikovsky"s The Nutcracker, in St. Petersburg in 1892, was a flop. Wrote one critic the next day: "For dancers there is rather little in it; for art absolutely nothing, and for the artistic fate of our ballet, one more step downward." Two decades passed before another production was attempted.
A century later, the ballet constitutes the single biggest fine-arts moneymaker in the United States, which has claimed the ballet as its own. In 1996, box-office receipts for some 2,400 American performances of the work by more than 20,000 dancers totaled nearly U.S. $50 million. Despite the ballet"s popularity, however, few Americans are aware of its history -- or of some of the twists and turns of fete that have changed it from its original form.
Choreographer Maurice Petipa (known as the "father of classical ballet") prepared the first production for Tchaikovsky in 1892. He based his scenario not on the macabre 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Fang of the Mice by E. T. A. Hoffmann, which the composer had thought to use for his inspiration, but on Alexander Dumas"s more benign 1845 French adaptation. Petipa did use the Hoffmann version to name his characters, but mixed up some names because he could not read German. (The heroine of the piece, Clara, should be named Marie according to the story. Clara is in fact the name of one of her dolls.)
In the original story the Mouse King had seven heads and terrified the seven-year-old Marie by foaming blood from all seven mouths and grinding and chattering all seven sets of teeth. These memorable characteristics, along with other sinister qualities in Hoffmann"s story, are among those aspects of the original that have been removed in most modem adaptations.
Removed from the ballet altogether by Petipa is a vital plot-within-a-plot in the Hoffmann story. This is the fairytale related to Marie while she recovers from injuries sustained in the battle between the forces of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. As a result, the storyline in the ballet does not really make sense.
In the fairytale, we learn that the Mouse King"s desire for vengeance has its origins in his evil mother, the wily Madam Mouserinks, whose first seven sons have been executed by the royal court for eating all the fat from the royal family"s sausages. In retribution, Madam Mouserinks has attacked the little Princess Pirlipat in her cradle, turning her into a misshapen creature whose beauty can be restored only if she eats a certain rare, difficult-to-crack nut called Krakatuk.
After many years the nut is finally located in Asia by the court clockmaker and wizard, Drosselmeyer, whose young nephew is identified as a prime candidate to crack it. The young man is already known as "the Nutcracker" for the gallantry he shows in cracking nuts for young ladies in his father"s shop. As predicted, he alone is able to crack the hard nut. He offers it to the princess to eat, and her beauty is restored. At that moment, however, the Nutcracker chances to step backwards, trampling on none other than Madam Mouserinks. She is fatally injured, but manages to place a curse on the young man before she dies. He is transformed into a grotesque parody of his former self, with a monstrous head, a yawning mouth and a lever in the back by which his jaw may be moved up and down. Madam Mouserinks sentences him to battle her son, the Mouse King, whom she bore after the death of her seven previous sons, and who has their seven heads. The curse may be removed only when the Nutcracker is able to win the love of a young lady in spite of his ugliness....
Hoffmann, the author of the original Nutcracker story, was as peculiar as many of his characters. Small and wiry, with sunken eyes and dark bushy hair, he had nervous tics that caused his hands, feet and face to twitch constantly. He adored the music of Mozart (and changed one of his middle names from Wilhelm to Ama
A．failure
B．popularity
C．hit
D．criticism