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Children Story Classics

Making the Horrific Palatable

The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71A (by Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich)
Ḳnaḳnisl un moyznḳeyser (by Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus))
Master Flea (by Hoffmann, E.T.A.)
The History of Krakatuk (by Hoffmann, Ernst T. W.)
The Story of the Hard Nut (by Hoffmann, Ernest Theodor Amadeus)
Elixiere des Teufels, Die (by Hoffmann, E.T.A.)
The Devil's Elixir. From the German of E... Volume 1 (by Hoffmann, Ernest Theodor Amadeus)
Menschen und Machte : Ausgewahlte Erzahl... (by Hoffmann, Ernest Theodor Amadeus)
Nachtstücke (by Hoffmann, E.T.A.)

Set to music by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, the adaptation of an adaptation of a children’s story written in 1816 by Prussian author Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann has become a perennial Christmastime classic.

Hoffman, who perished in 1822 at the age of 46, made his living as a jurist, author, composer, music critic, and artist. Although little remembered for his original works, adaptations of his stories live on in two popular ballets, The Nutcracker and Coppélia.

A writer of the Romantic movement, Hoffman’s tale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” blends his favorite genres: gothic horror and fantasy. The World Public Library houses a copy in Yiddish. Modern scholars credit Hoffmann as the precursor to Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There) and L. Frank Baum’s Oz series, the most well known of which is Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.

“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” begins in Christmas Eve. Seven-year-old heroine Marie Stahlbaum and her brother Fritz speculate about the gift brought by their eccentric godfather, Drosselmeier, a clockmaker and inventor. Although marvelous and intricate, the gift fails to sustain the children for long. The story tells how the nutcracker came to be--the result of a curse--and of Marie’s friendship with the nutcracker prince whom she saves from the Mouse King. The fantasy of a mouse kingdom, magic and curses, and a selfless romance firmly establishes this beloved story among the best of fairy tales.

Alexandre Dumas, who wrote such venerable classics as The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Three Musketeers—all of which inspired subsequent novel, script, and movie adaptations—penned the first well-known adaptation of Hoffmann’s tale. Like William Shakespeare before him, he did not borrow his ideas from earlier authors: he stole them. Dumas’ version, Histoire d'un casse-noisette, hardly varies from Hoffman’s original.

Other stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann include:

Master Flea (Librivox recording)
The Story of the Hard Nut
The Story of the Krakatuk
Die Elixiere des Teufels (Librivox recording, in German)
The Devil’s Elixir
Menschen und Machte: Ausgewahlte Erzahlungen (in German)
Die Nachtstücke (Librivox recording, in German).

By Karen M. Smith