Organization

Singer

Soprano

Katharina Baumgarten

Gretel

Conductor

Ewa Strusińska

Daria Kalinina

Sand- und Taumännchen

Baritone

Till von Orlowsky

Peter

Mezzo-soprano

Marlen Bieber

Hansel

Sophia Maeno

Marie Hänsel

Dagmar Schellenberger

Gertrude

Reto Rosin

The Gingerbread Witch

Dewman

Anna Grycan

Sandman

Stage director

Steffen Piontek

Diego Martin-Etxebarria

Costume designer

Ralf Winkler

Set designer

Choreographer

Sigrid Busch

Gottfried Messenbrink

Dramaturge

Carla Neppl

Theater Chemnitz

Others

Damen des Opernchores

Orchestra

Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie

Hänsel und Gretel -  (Hansel and Gretel)

Chemnitz

Germany

Opernhaus Chemnitz

Public

Hansel and Gretel

Approved

Hänsel und Gretel Humperdinck

by Engelbert Humperdinck

Recorded 2021 at Opera Chemnitz


Hänsel - Marlen Bieber
Gretel - Marie Hänsel
Hexe - Daniel Kirch

Hänsel und Gretel

A visit to Engelbert Humperdinck's opera "Hansel and Gretel" is one of the beloved rituals of the pre-Christmas period for many people. The play, based on the well-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, is also regularly performed in Chemnitz during Advent. The enchantingly romantic production by Steffen Piontek, which premiered on November 9, 1991 and has had almost 240 performances since then, has been on show here for 30 years. This production has meanwhile taken around 150,000 smaller and larger visitors into the fairytale world, and those who saw it for the first time as a child often came back as adults with their own children. On this occasion we met Jürgen Mutze, our senior witch in "Hansel and Gretel", for a chat! Editors: Uta Thomsen, Carla Neppl Video & Editing: Nasser Hashemi, Kati Hilmer

Conversation with Jürgen Mutze, our senior witch in "Hansel and Gretel"

Steffen Piontek's staging of the fairytale opera Hansel and Gretel has been part of the Christmas program of many Chemnitz families since 1991. One trembles again and again with Hansel and Gretel when, on their return from the hard day's work, instead of an empty pot instead of dinner, and instead of the work done, two children dancing. One hopes with them that they will find their way out of the creepy forest with will-o'-the-wisps and twinkle-eye owls and are happy about the angel pyramid that guards the sleep of the children, about the smelling gingerbread house and about the burned witch's bottom.

The composer Engelbert Humperdinck lived from 1854 to 1921. He studied in Cologne and Munich and then worked, among other things, as Richard Wagner's assistant in Bayreuth. He has composed instrumental music, pieces for vocal and of course operas. The best known today is Hansel and Gretel .

The text for this comes from Humperdinck's sister Adelheid Wette. She regularly wrote little fairy tale games based on the motifs of famous storytellers for family performances. Their version of Hansel and Gretel based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm inspired Engelbert Humperdinck to turn it into a real opera. He used some well-known folk songs like Suse, liebe Suse and A Little Man Standing in the Woods , but also wrote music himself that is now in every children's song book, like Little Brother, Come, Dance with Me . Hansel and Gretel was performed for the first time in Weimar in 1893. The musical direction was none other than Richard Strauss.

English

Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, Alkaen (2021/2022), Ohjannut Steffen Piontek,, Musiikinjohto Ewa Strusińska, Diego Martin-Etxebarria, Opernhaus Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany

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