We all have gone to The Nutcracker ballet at least once in our lives... but what's the story behind it? Time to travel to 1816, and deep dive into this! Get ready for a (rather startling) tale of ETA Hoffman's The Nutcracker and The Mouse King.

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Music by Donald Guzzi & Artwork by Alexis Torres

Links to research:

• https://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167732828/no-sugar-plums-here-the-dark-romantic-roots-of-the-nutcracker
• https://www.thecollector.com/german-romanticism-revolt-against-capitalism/
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nutcracker_and_Mouse-King/Chapter_1
• https://nutcracker.com/history-of-nutcracker/
• https://nutcrackerballetgifts.com/blogs/blog/history-of-the-nutcracker#:~:text=The%20story%20for%20the%20Nutcracker,was%20in%201892%20in%20Russia.
• https://www.nutcrackermuseum.com/history.htm#:~:text=The%20first%20wooden%20nutcrackers%20were,or%20screw%2C%20is%20cracked%20open.
• https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-post/2018/12/17/e-t-a-hoffmanns-the-nutcracker-an-analysis-of-the-dark-creepy-story-behind-the-classic-ch#:~:text=The%20fickle%2C%20eccentric%20Drosselmeier%20uses,instead%20of%20assuming%20that%20the