Music Director
Engeibert Humperdinck (1854-1921)
Dream Pantomime - "Hansel and Gretel"
Engelbert Humperdinck's opera, "Hansel and Gretel" was first staged in Weimar, Germany in 1893. The German composer studied piano as a child, and composed two Sing-spiels for the stage by the time he was thirteen.
Humperdinck's parents sent him to school for architecture, but he also took music classes at the Cologne Conservatory. In 1876, Humperdinck received the Frankfurt Mozart Prize and went to Munich for further musical study.
Humperdinck became one of Richard Wagner's students and assistants, and eventually became the music tutor to Wagner's son Siegfried.
The composer collaborated frequently with the playwright and director Max Reinhardt, providing incidental music for the directors Berlin Shakespeare Productions. In 1890 Humperdinck's sister asked him to compose "Hansel and Gretel", based on the fairy tale by Ludwig Grimm for her children. It started out as a Singspiel with piano accompaniment, which the composer presented to his fiance Hedwig Taxer as an engagement present.
The fully orchestrated opera was first performed in 1894, conducted by Richard Strauss. The work was a popular success, using Wagnerian techniques and German folk songs.
Notes by Beth Fisher