# Was the Nutcracker originally a ballet?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 14, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433 "2003-01-14T02:06:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433/1 "2003-01-14T02:06:46Z")

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A post-holiday question: I was just curious to know if The Nutcracker was intended to be a ballet originally? Or, did modern times combine his music to some storyline? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433/2 "2003-01-14T02:19:08Z")

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Tchaikovski composed The Nutcracker as a ballet score, to be choreographed by Marius Pepita and Lev Ivanov of the Maryinski Ballet. The storyline comes from a childrens book by German author E.T.A. Hoffman.

-prav, “Nutcracker Prince” four years running in high school. No, seriously.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433/3 "2003-01-14T02:30:51Z")

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Hoffman’s book was published in Berlin in 1816, and Tchaikovsky’s ballet adaptation was first performed in Moscow in 1892.

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**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433/4 "2003-01-14T02:55:27Z")

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Most ballets and operas were composed from pre-existing stories. Often the material came from folk tales. Thanks to **pravnik** for the specifics on _The Nutcracker_. I tried a Google search and couldn’t come up with anything except notes on performances and expensive books, which would no doubt have the information. If I had time I’d consult my brother, who is timpanist for the San Franciso Ballet Orchestra. He’d probably know, especially since _The Nutcracker_ is an annual event (series, actually) for the Ballet.

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-nutcracker-originally-a-ballet/148433/5 "2003-01-14T03:49:11Z")

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Public Television ran an interesting documentary on _The Nutcracker_.

According to the documentary the ballet was choreographed first. Then Tchaikovsky was commissioned to do the score. He was given detailed instructions as the number of measures in each piece and in the movements within each piece. It was an astonishingly formidable task to fit interesting, lively and good music within that preset framework, but he did it.

Did anyone else see the program and do you think they got it right?