{"id":1151740,"date":"2021-12-24T20:34:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T01:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1151740"},"modified":"2021-12-24T20:34:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T01:34:41","slug":"bois-the-nutcracker-and-the-dream-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bois-the-nutcracker-and-the-dream-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Bois: &#039;The Nutcracker&#039; and the Dream of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbois-the-nutcracker-and-the-dream-of-christmas%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1151740&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>Of all the folk tales, pageants, legends, and fables to accompany the Christmas season, few have achieved the level of immortality of&nbsp;<em>The Nutcracker<\/em>, from&nbsp;E.T.A. Hoffmann\u2019s short story to its reimagining in Tchaikovsky\u2019s ballet.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like Dickens\u2019s&nbsp;<em>A Christmas Carol&nbsp;<\/em>or Frank Capra\u2019s <em>It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em>, we can recall <em>The Nutcracker<\/em>&nbsp;as if by rote: a curious girl on Christmas Eve, an enchanted Nutcracker who springs to life and battles the evil Mouse King, a whimsical land of marzipan castles and Christmas forests. We know the tale, but have we ever asked why we know it? For that, we must venture into its origins.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>When Prussian author E.T.A. Hoffmann conceived&nbsp;<em>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King&nbsp;<\/em>in 1816, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/12\/25\/167732828\/no-sugar-plums-here-the-dark-romantic-roots-of-the-nutcracker\">envisioned his tale<\/a> as a counterpoint to the prevailing Enlightenment dogma that insisted upon rationalism and reason over imagination. A product of German romanticism, Hoffmann \u201cbelieved strongly that the imagination was being attacked by the rise of rationalism,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/12\/25\/167732828\/no-sugar-plums-here-the-dark-romantic-roots-of-the-nutcracker\">according to<\/a>&nbsp;University of Minnesota professor Jack Zipes, and therefore dedicated himself to \u201canother way of looking at the world, and to reclaiming nature, reclaiming innocence, reclaiming an authentic way of living.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the simplest summation, German Romantics were nostalgists, most of <a href=\"http:\/\/theliterarylink.com\/hoffmann.html\">whom respected<\/a> the Medieval foundations upon which Western civilization was built. Rather than divorce themselves from the past \u2014 as the&nbsp;Robespierrean French so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Louis-XVI\">violently demonstrated<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 the Romantics harnessed the past as a wellspring for inspiration to better unify an increasingly atomized culture in a post-Reformation society. They insisted on tales of courtly love, the triumph of Humanit\u00e4t (true humanity), the validation of passion, and the prevailing of virtue over vice.<\/p>\n<p>To the Romantics, art could not be probed for deconstruction, it could not be commodified, it could not be \u201cput on the rack and tortured for her secrets,\u201d as the Renaissance philosopher <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikiquote.org\/wiki\/Talk:Francis_Bacon#:~:text=%5Bnature%20will%20be%5D%20bound%20into,and%20tortured%20for%20her%20secrets.%22\">Francis Bacon would have it<\/a>.&nbsp;The Romantics saw art as a leisurely affair, a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sothebys.com\/en\/articles\/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-german-romanticism\"> divinely-inspired process<\/a> wherein God channels the artist as a vessel for unspoken Truths. From the Romantics, the West received some of its most treasured works of post-Enlightenment art: the Grimm fairy tale anthologies, Beethoven\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fOk8Tm815lE\"><em>Symphony No. 5<\/em><\/a>, and Caspar David Friedrich\u2019s iconic&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianberlin.com\/inspiration-en\/art-beauty-and-the-divine-7-key-facts-about-german-romanticism\"><em>Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>That Hoffmann\u2019s <em>The Nutcracker <\/em>would survive over 200 years of history, including two World Wars and the rise of Communism, to become synonymous with Christmas, speaks to its unique power as a romantic work of fantasy. Most cultural critics and historians would be quick to credit Tchaikovsky\u2019s majestic suite for this brush with immortality, and while that remains undisputed, it must not be forgotten that Hoffmann\u2019s tale spawned a legacy of such power it captured the imagination of not one but two artistic titans: French author Alexandre Dumas and Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p>Nearly three decades after its publication, Dumas recrafted Hoffmann\u2019s tale in his own image \u2013 <em>The Tale of the Nutcracker<\/em> (1844) \u2013 retaining Hoffmann\u2019s basic plot with only a few minor differences. Tchaikovsky would later use Dumas\u2019 recreation as the basis for his ballet\u2019s libretto, stripping the story down into what amounts to little more than a young girl\u2019s dream. Undoubtedly, without Tchaikovsky\u2019s music, Hoffmann\u2019s tale of wonder would be little more than a curiosity for German literary scholars rather than the cultural powerhouse as we understand it today. Strange as it may seem, Hoffmann would probably relish the knowledge of music becoming the fount from which his work received eternal life. For in his famous review of Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony, Hoffmann <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/12\/25\/167732828\/no-sugar-plums-here-the-dark-romantic-roots-of-the-nutcracker\">declared that<\/a> music \u201creveals an unknown kingdom to mankind: a world that has nothing in common with the outward, material world that surrounds it, and in which we leave behind all predetermined conceptual feelings in order to give ourselves up to the inexpressible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As critic Robert Kilborn so <a href=\"https:\/\/myscena.org\/author\/robert-kilborn\/\">eloquently noted<\/a>, \u201cHoffmann\u2019s novella captures a stranger and darker world than the Alexandre Dumas,&nbsp;<em>p\u00e8re<\/em>, adaption from which the ballet is derived. What in the story is a very real transformation and liberation, in the ballet becomes a lighthearted dream. <strong>But the music carries the message intact<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>With that, we must ask ourselves: what stood at the heart of Hoffmann\u2019s work that spawned this ongoing saga of fascination that still resonates, even to today?&nbsp;I suspect it stems from the marriage of Hoffmann\u2019s fiercely defiant romanticism with the season of Christmas, creating an ethos radiating within its metaphysical DNA that captivates our subconscious.<\/p>\n<p>For what is Christmas if not Western civilization\u2019s last vestige of collective leisure&nbsp;\u2014 the one season in which we set aside all notions of structure and utility to partake in the anticipation and celebration of Christ\u2019s birth, and as with all celebrations<span>, there are pageants to be attended, gifts to be offered, games to be played, tales to be told, songs to be sung, and fellowships to be nurtured. A parade of useless engagements, quantifiable only by their economic proficiency.&nbsp;<\/span>We string up lights, not for their luminosity, but so the darkness will be luminous. We display decorations, not for their distinction, but so our homes will be distinct. We indulge in feasts, not for their nourishment, but so our hearts will be nourished. Tradition reigns over trend, Truth over fact, quality over quantity.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_19257922\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/THE-NUTCRACKER-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19257922\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/THE-NUTCRACKER-1-855x1024-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"855\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Original 1853 Woodcut Illustration<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Consider, for example, how this reflects in the arc of Hoffmann\u2019s protagonist, Marie Stahlbahm <\/span>(Clara as she is known in the ballet). On Christmas Eve, her father entrusts to her a Nutcracker after she expresses her fondness for it. \u201cSince, dear Marie, you love Friend Nutcracker so much, you must shield and shelter him,\u201d he tells her.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Marie takes this to heart, treating the Nutcracker with tender care, cracking in him only the \u201csmallest nuts\u201d for fear of breaking his fragile jaw. For reasons unexplained, she feels an affinity for the Nutcracker, seeing within him a hidden value beyond her understanding. Her brother, Fritz, on the other hand, sees the Nutcracker as merely a tool, a functionary to be wielded for his own amusement, shoving the \u201cbiggest and hardest\u201d nuts into the toy\u2019s mouth until his \u201cwhole lower jaw turned loose and wobbly.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOh, my poor dear Nutcracker!\u201d Marie cries out in seeing her defective friend.<\/p>\n<p>Now notice what Hoffmann has Fritz say in response: \u201cHe\u2019s a stupid, simple-minded guy! He wants to be a Nutcracker, but he has no decent teeth. He probably doesn\u2019t understand his own work. Hand him over, Marie! He has to chew up nuts for me, even if he loses his remaining teeth \u2013 even his entire jaw in the bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19257882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/THE-NUTCRACKER-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19257882\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/THE-NUTCRACKER-2-956x1024-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"956\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Original 1853 Woodcut Illustration<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Marie represents the Romantic while Fritz represents the utilitarian, a materialist with no care or insight for anything\u2019s intrinsic value. He is the factory owner who works his employees to the bone, the general who marches his soldiers into a massacre, the king who taxes his peasants into poverty.<\/p>\n<p>These two worldviews, ever-present in Hoffmann\u2019s mind, clash throughout the story as Marie struggles to realize that the Nutcracker may indeed be alive. She sees him perform wondrous deeds, commanding an army and waging war against the seven-headed Mouse King. She learns of his woeful origins; his ugly appearance a curse from a broken promise. She absconds to his magical kingdom of sprawling treats and Christmas forests. Were these actual experiences or merely a fever dream? She wrestles in this conundrum, her family questioning her sanity at every turn, pleading she see the Nutcracker for his inanimate simplicity. She resists, and only when she chooses to love the Nutcracker for his intrinsic worth does she come to know the truth of his existence and win her eternal reward as queen of his magical kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>Hoffmann closes his story with a telling line: \u201cMarie supposedly is still queen of a land you can see sparkling Christmas Forests everywhere as well as translucent Marzipan Castles \u2014 in short, the most splendid and most wondrous things, <strong>if only you have the right eyes to see them with<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19257898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/THE-NUTCRACKER-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19257898\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/THE-NUTCRACKER-3-985x1024-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"985\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Original 1853 Woodcut Illustration<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Like a true Romantic, Hoffmann invites us to see the world through Marie\u2019s eyes, discovering a hidden world of meaning&nbsp;<span>beyond facades and machinations, a world filled with the \u201c<\/span><span>most splendid and most wondrous things.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We struggle with this every Christmas, experiencing the season in two&nbsp;<\/span><span>realities: the physical, living reality of our worldly existence and the fanciful, majestic reality of our imagination \u2014 a decadent, uncorrupted dreamworld of light, wonder, and warmth, untouched by the banality of time.&nbsp;<\/span><span>We envision a Christmas marked by precious moments and miraculous happenings only to experience a Christmas firmly grounded in the practical demands of daily living. For every candy cane and silver lane that glows, we get icy roads, depleted bank accounts, crowded parking lots, and year-end fiscal deadlines.&nbsp;<\/span><span>We dream of Christmas, living in its promise, anticipating what it brings, yearning to experience it all again while wondering if we ever experienced it all. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Only when we choose to believe in the dream\u2019s reality does Christmas truly come alive.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of all the folk tales, pageants, legends, and fables to accompany the Christmas season, few have achieved the level of immortality of\u00a0The Nutcracker, from\u00a0E.T.A. Hoffmann\u2019s short story to its reimagining &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1151740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1151740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1151740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1151740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1151740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}