The Nutcracker

By E. T. A. Hoffmann

On Christmas Eve, the children of Doctor Stahlbaum were not allowed into the family room, let alone the adjoining living room. Evening had come, and Fritz and Marie Stahlbaum sat huddled in a corner. As was usual on Christmas Eve, no-one had brought in a light, and so they sat in an eerie darkness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sovereign
• Release date: Aug 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781910833322

Book preview

E. T. A. Hoffmann

E. T. A. Hoffmann

The Nutcracker

New Edition

LONDON ∙ NEW YORK ∙ TORONTO ∙ SAO PAULO ∙ MOSCOW

PARIS ∙ MADRID ∙ BERLIN ∙ ROME ∙ MEXICO CITY ∙ MUMBAI ∙ SEOUL ∙ DOHA

TOKYO ∙ SYDNEY ∙ CAPE TOWN ∙ AUCKLAND ∙ BEIJING

New Edition

Published by Sovereign Classic

[e-mail]

www.sovereignclassic.net

This Edition

First published in 2015

Copyright © 2015 Sovereign

All Rights Reserved.

Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 1

CHRISTMAS EVE

On Christmas Eve, the children of Doctor Stahlbaum were not allowed into the family room, let alone the adjoining living room.

Evening had come, and Fritz and Marie Stahlbaum sat huddled in a corner. As was usual on Christmas Eve, no-one had brought in a light, and so they sat in an eerie darkness.

Fritz was whispering to his younger sister Marie (who had just turned seven) how early that morning, he had heard rattlings and poundings from the forbidden chambers, and how he had just seen a small, dark man slipping a large box under his arm across the corridor, and how he knew it was none other than Godfather Drosselmeier.

Marie’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands and cried, Oh, what do you think Godfather Drosselmeier has made for us?

Now, Judge Drosselmeier was not the least bit handsome. He was small and thin with a face full of wrinkles, and where his right eye ought to have been he wore a black eyepatch. He had no hair at all on his head, and so he wore a cleverly-made white wig of glass threads. In general, Godfather Drosselmeier was a clever sort of man who knew a great deal about watches and clocks and even made some himself. When one of the Stahlbaum family clocks was sick and couldn’t sing, Godfather Drosselmeier would come and take off his glass wig and yellow coat and put on a blue apron. He would then stab all sorts of sharp instruments into the clock. Marie felt sympathy pains, but the clocks weren’t at all hurt. In fact, the clocks purred and sang as joyfully as ever, which made the whole family happy again.

Drosselmeier always had something in his pockets for the children when he came to visit. Sometimes it was a funny little man who rolled his eyes and bowed, sometimes it was a box from which a small bird hopped, and sometimes it was something else. But every Christmas, the judge would go to extra effort to create something spectacular - so spectacular that the children’s parents would put it away for safekeeping afterward.

What do you think Godfather Drosselmeier has made for us? Marie anxiously asked.

Fritz said it probably wouldn’t be any different this time. He expected a fortress where soldiers marched and drilled about. Other soldiers would come to overtake it, but brave soldiers inside the fortress would fire booming cannons to keep the intruders away.

No, no, Marie interrupted, Godfather Drosselmeier told me of a beautiful garden with a big lake, with beautiful swans swimming around wearing gold necklaces and singing pretty songs. Then a little girl comes to the lake and calls the swans, and feeds them marzipan.

Swans don’t eat marzipan, Fritz said scornfully. And Godfather Drosselmeier can’t make a whole garden. Besides, they always take what he gives us away. I prefer what Papa and Mama give us; we can keep those and do what we want with them.

The children continued to guess and wonder. Marie pointed out that her large doll, Madame Trudie, was more awkward than ever these days. She fell on the floor time and again, which put nasty marks on her face and was getting her dress filthy. She’d tried scolding her, but to no avail. Also, there had been the way Mama had smiled when she saw how happy Marie was with the little parasol for Gretchen. Fritz pointed out that his father was quite aware that his stables were missing a chestnut horse and that he was short of an entire cavalry.

The children were certain their parents had bought them many wonderful presents, and that through the blessings of the Christ Child (who looked down upon them with kind, loving eyes), Christmas presents were much better than any other presents. Their older sister Louise added that the Christ Child, who brought them gifts through the hands of their loving parents, knew much better what they would like than they, so rather than wishing and hoping they should remain patient and quiet. This gave Marie pause for thought, but Fritz muttered, I’d still like a chestnut horse and some hussars.

Night had fallen, and Fritz and Marie huddled together in silence. It suddenly seemed there was a rushing of wings and a distant, but beautiful music. A bright light touched the wall, and the children knew that the Christ Child had flown away on shimmering clouds to other happy children. At that moment, a silvery bell rang and the doors flew open.

Ah-ah! The children froze as they stepped on the threshold, but Papa and Mama lead them inside by the hand.

Come in and see what the Christ Child has brought you.

CHAPTER 2

THE GIFTS

I ask you, the reader, to remember your most wonderful Christmas. Remember the beautiful, colorful presents and the lavishly decorated Christmas tree? You should be able

Reviews for The Nutcracker

[jenspirko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you only know the story from the ubiquitous ballet, revisit it via this version. Maurice Sendak's distinctive art lends just the right appealingly surreal tone to ETA Hoffman's fairy tale. Like all good fairy tales, there is a thread of darkness and danger along with bright fantasy, and the spare storytelling pairs perfectly with the lush illustrations of this version.

[gold_gato-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are many versions of Hoffman's classic Christmas story, but I enjoyed this one immensely due to the dreamlike drawings of Scott Gustafson. It's like being in a little shop off a crooked alleyway, where a clockmaker's sign hangs over the entrance. Old world mixed with enchantment.

Looking at armed mice dressed as 17th century musketeers or gingerbread cookies come to life was a true delight. The colors are vibrant and if you happen to be playing Tchaikovsky in the background, the better. This is a small book for the child's hand and makes the perfect stocking stuffer for the holidays.


Book Season = Winter

[bwhitner-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two stories, both kind of fairytales in a way. One about a nutcracker of course who was really a prince, the other about a fairy who visited two children.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read aloud to my son for Christmas. This is the basis for the famous ballet, the story of Marie, who receives a Nutcracker doll for Christmas that subsequently comes to life, battles a seven-headed mouse king, and takes Marie on a tour of a fairyland made of sweets. My son pronounced it "weird, but very descriptive, so I could picture it in my head, so I liked it." I thought it was entertaining, but surreal and dreamlike.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I have never read this classic Christmas story and thought it would be a wonderful addition to my Christmas reading this year. I am also a huge fan of Maurice Sendak.I have not ever read the Nutcracker before, nor have I ever seen the ballet. I am not a ballet-type person. Neither have I seen a movie version of the story. I *have* seen some Christmas movies which featured a girl who was in the ballet and have a very basic knowledge of the story from that, so I was very interested to finally read the original story. But I cannot compare it to the abridged version everyone is more familiar with. Sendak starts the book off with a very informative Introduction that explains how Hoffman's story got mixed up with a tale by Alexandre Dumas to become the popular tale told in the ballet we know today. He then goes on to recount how he became involved in both a new ballet production of the original in the early '80s and the illustration of this first true-to-the-original English translation. Excellent piece of writing.The tale itself is a product of the Regency Era, albeit from the German counterpart. This is a tiny bit earlier than the period I most prefer in my reading (post-1830) so I found the style not quite my thing but the story is a fantastical tale. What is usually referred to as a tale within a tale, the best part, I thought, of the whole story was the little girl's fantasy into the story of the hard nut. From what I gathered in the Introduction, this is the part left out of the ballet. By far the best part of the whole story! Indeed a fairy tale; this is a good translation which reads with the authenticity of its time period and yet is not stilted, taking the modern reader into account with the flow of the language. An enjoyable story, full of wonder, which would make a very good read aloud to a variety of ages. The story itself is not scary and Sendak's illustrations are wonderful. He does not make much use of his "monster" style here except in a few instances, especially in the Nutcracker himself, whom I found quite hideous and his illustration may frighten small children. I can't understand why this is referred to a Christmas story though. Yes, the book starts on Christmas Eve, but time passes and Christmas is not a theme here. I was especially delighted that the children expected their gifts to be delivered to them by the mystery of the "Christ Child"; What a wonderful way to have celebrated Christmas! Overall, I am glad to have finally experienced this classic children's tale and did enjoy it but would not put it on an equal footing with say "The Christmas Carol" or "The Bird's Christmas Carol".

[hrose2931 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I went to the Nutcracker Ballet every year as a little girl. It was such a tradition I can't remember not going, but at some point I stopped going. I don't remember how old I was, maybe when I stopped believing in Santa? Maybe later. But schools used to go on field trips to see it I remember. It was A BIG DEAL! And I haven't seen it since I was a little girl. But I vaguely remembered bits and pieces of it. A girl in a white dress. A soldier, a battle, a rat soldier. All of it was kind of way back in my mind. I started with the Prologue for The Nutcracker written by Maurice Sendak in 1984. He dug up the original story of the Nutcracker written by E.T.A. Hoffmann. It was then translated by Ralph Manheim and a whole subplot "The Story of the Hard Nut" was discovered that had never been performed in the ballet. So not only did I get to rekindle my memories of the ballet I remembered, but an entirely new fairytale was revealed to me. And you know how when you read a book, it's always better than the movie?The same is true for watching a ballet and reading the book. You can read the intentions and feelings, what everything looks like in detail, whereas on a stage you might miss something because you're too far away. So, as always, I liked the book better. I always will.It starts off right away with a beautifully written story, somewhat dark, set in the past with the Christ Child bringing their presents. And they are very good children indeed as they get many presents. The tree is described in great detail and so beautifully, I want to decorate mine like that. And then Marie finds the Nutcracker and falls in love with it. But she's told she has to share The Nutcracker and her brother Fritz breaks him. All is better when she is given the Nutcracker to care for and she wraps him in her handkerchief. She is besotted with him.Now you may or may not know the story from there but the King of the Mice wages a battle against the Nutcracker and Marie and her brother's soldiers. Marie is wounded and her Godfather comes to tell her a story, "The Story of the Hard Nut," which he tells her over three consecutive nights and repairs the Nutcracker. "The Story of the Hard Nut" explains why the King of the Mice and the Nutcracker are fighting in the first place, a long history between the two families, err mice and man. It greatly adds to the story and I'm sorry it's been left out for so long. I always remembered that Clara was the center of the romance in The Nutcracker, but it is dear sweet Marie and her steadfast love of the ugly Nutcracker that brings the story to it's end. She is laughed at by her family as she tells of her journey with The Nutcracker to Marzipan Castle where he is King. She's not allowed to mention it again for fear of her father throwing The Nutcracker and all her other dolls out as well. But all is well in the end.The pictures are...they are Maurice Sendak. There are a few monsters from Where the Wild Things Are peeking out from behind things. They are as descriptive as a picture can be. I've always loved Maurice Sendak's work and it works so well in this story with the King of the Mice and the Nutcracker especially.I highly recommend adding this to your Christmas collection. I loved the ending!!If you'd like to see a few of the pictures from the book you can click HERE and check them out. Clicking on each picture will bring up a larger picture and a description of what's happening in the scene.Thanks to Danielle at Crown Publishing for the complimentary copy for review.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm so used to seeing the Nutcracker as a ballet that it comes as a big of a shock to see the story in print.(And, honestly, I'm not sure that I don't prefer it that way.)Love the Sendak illustrations. Why not, I suggest, just have them? Skip the words which feel redundant. A wordless book, maybe?

[thetruebookaddict · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The original story is vastly different from the beloved ballet. I love the ballet. I've seen it many times, but I also really loved this story. I can almost imagine that the recent holiday film, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, had some basis in this original story. I've heard some people were in an uproar over the film because it's different from the ballet. Perhaps they have not read this original story? On my end, I'm always open to new interpretations of a story.

I highly recommend this. Wonderful story made even more enchanting by the fantastic illustrations of Maurice Sendak.

[nbmars · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is not just a hackneyed version of "The Nutcracker" dressed up by the magnificent illustrations of Maurice Sendak. On the contrary, this book (beautifully printed and bound) features the original story written by E.T.A. Hoffmann, later watered down for the famous ballet. While I have always loved the ballet in any form, this story is far superior to the traditional one, and captured my attention from the very start. As Sendak wrote in his preface about the version familiar to audiences today:"[It] is smoothed out, bland, and utterly devoid not only of difficulties but of the weird, dark qualities that make it something of a masterpiece.”Kent Stowell, the artistic director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, invited Sendak to collaborate on a new production, and they agreed to adapt the Hoffman version. The translation used in this book by Ralph Manheim is superb – there is nothing dated or stodgy about it, and I found myself unable to quit reading until I had finished the entire story. And as admirers of Sendak know, as an illustrator he is particularly well-suited to capture “weird, dark qualities” and render them as not at all scary but full of whimsy and fascinating detail.My favorite parts? The character known as the Giant Sweettooth of Candytown (since he is obviously one of my progenitors) and the very last sentiment, which concludes:"…Marie is believed to be still the queen of a country where sparkling Christmas woods, transparent marzipan castles, in short, the most wonderful things, can be seen if you have the right sort of eyes for it.”“The right sort of eyes” …. What a marvelous concept!