For people all over the country and those in Williamsville, NY, December means an annual visit to see The Nutcracker ballet. Tchaikovsky’s music whisks us away to a land of enchantment as we follow Clara, Herr Drosselmeyer, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and of course the titular character, Nutcracker.
The nutcracker, given to Clara by Herr Drosselmeyer (a talented toymaker) harks back to the actual beginnings of toy nutcrackers. Today The StoneGate Blog has a brief history of nutcrackers, as well as ideas for where you can get one for your apartment and where you can see the ballet in the area.
Nutcrackers come in all sorts, from inexpensive discount soldiers to handmade German pieces, soldiers, storybook characters, famous people, and everything in between. A quick Internet search will yield dozens of examples. Nutcrackers were originally functional wooden tools designed for cracking nuts, and the makers would sometimes carve them into whimsical characters. Eventually the functionality was secondary, and the dolls became decorative while retaining the visual jaw-dropping function of cracking nuts.
One story about the origin of nutcrackers places them in the German Ore Mountains — the German: Erzgebirge region, where a craftsman from Seiffen first carved them. The making of nutcrackers spread throughout the region. Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner, known in Germany as the “father of the nutcracker,” was instrumental in the popularization of the novelty. They became popular as gifts, and by the mid 1800s they were being produced in factories.
Nutcrackers were a European thing until after the Second World War, when American soldiers came home with them for souvenirs. The story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by Hoffman was adapted as a ballet, and by the 1930s had become quite popular throughout Europe. It also played an important part in boosting the popularity of nutcrackers in America.
For a more in depth look at the story, check out Nutcracker Ballet’s synopsis of The Nutcracker Ballet Story: The Most Common of Many Variations or watch this short but encompassing video that captures the story of The Nutcracker in five minutes.
Today nutcrackers are often featured as holiday decorations or collectibles. Christmas Treasures carries the Steinbach line of nutcrackers, and you can also find high-end German made nutcrackers at Erzgebirge-Palace.
Don’t worry if you missed The Nutcracker at the Shea Theater. You can still catch a performance December 10th at Configuration Dance Theater & School of Ballet at The Nutcracker in the City of Light 2017. The website says it’s “a timeless holiday classic is set at the turn of the century in Buffalo, NY, renowned city of light. This unique production is a traditional holiday favorite you won’t want to miss!”
We hope you’ve enjoyed this bit of history about nutcrackers and the ballet! Thanks for reading along with us this year. Happy holidays to everyone in our apartment community here at StoneGate Apartment Homes.