Organization

Singer

Baritone

Ludmil Kuntschew

Peter

Mezzo-soprano

Ilona Streitberger

Gertrude

Sabine Noack

Hansel

Soprano

Cornelia Marschall

Gretel

The Gingerbread Witch

Viktorija Kaminskaite

Sandman

Dewman

Conductor

Markus L. Frank

Stage director

Johannes Felsenstein

Costume designer

Stefan Rieckhoff

Set designer

Dramaturge

Susanne Schulze

Sand- und Taumännchen

Anhaltisches Theater Dessau

Orchestra

Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau

Hänsel und Gretel -  (Hansel and Gretel)

Dessau

Germany

Anhaltisches Theater

"Hänsel und Gretel is a fairy-tale opera (Märchenspiel) by Engelbert Humperdinck to a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on „Hänsel and Gretel.“ After several revisions, the musical sketches and the songs were turned into a full-scale opera.
Hänsel und Gretel has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances, and it is often performed at Christmas time. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the prayer from act II.
A family classic, it grew out of a set of incidental music and, written between 1890 and 1893, it was first performed on 23 December 1893 under Richard Strauss in Weimar. The form in which the story is used in the opera derives from the collection of Ludwig Bechstein. Gertrud, the desperate mother, sends her hungry children into the wood to pick strawberries, unaware of the danger to which she exposes them until Peter, the broombinder, returns and is shocked at what she has done; both anxious parents immediately set out to find them. The thoroughly happy ending introduces another significant variation to the familiar version of the brothers J. and W. Grimm."

Hocus pocus! Hansel and Gretel in a fairy production by Johannes Felsenstein

Hansel and Gretel, two young children from a humble family living on the edge of the Ilsenstein forest are making brooms and stitching a stoking. But the idea of a rice cake for dinner diverts them from their domestic toils. The mother, Gertrud, comes in and scolds them for not working. Alas! The milk pot intended for the making of the cake is spilled over. The mother, both despaired and sorry for her hungry children, sends Hansel and Gretel into the wood to pick strawberries, unaware of the danger to which she exposes them. Peter, the father, comes back from a neighboring hamlet, the pockets full of victuals. Where are the children? Gone into the woods, replied the mother. The father is terrified. The woods are inhabited by a witch who eats lost children. Hansel and Gretel fight over the last strawberries, when suddenly a wonder appears before their eyes: a gingerbread house! Hansel and Gretel rush to the house, wolfing down windows, doors, walls, everything a house could be made of. Who's here? The witch appears, Hansel and Gretel are frozen to the spot. Hocus pocus! Hansel is stiff, ready to be put in the oven. Thankfully, Gretel grands the witch's wand. Hocus pocus! The witch is defeated. Gingerbread children have turned back into humans.

Hansel and Gretel is a fairy-tale opera ( Märchenspiel ) composed by Engelbert Humperdinck in 1891, who drew his inspiration from the well-known eponym tale collected by the Grimm Brothers. Much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, Hansel and Gretel is a classic of the operatic repertoire which has never ceased to be performed since its creation in 1893 in Weimar under Richard Strauss' baton. But besides this success, Hansel and Gretel plunges the audience into an enchanting world full of wonders, into childhood memories.

Brutal realism in Dessau: Humperdinck's opera is already far less of a fairy tale than the original Grimm version, concentrating instead on the desperate situation of the protagonists; in 2007, star director Johannes Felsenstein took things a step further. During the orchestral overture and intervals, a screen to the side of the grey and gloomy scenery displays scenes from the Second World War, thereby creating a jarring discrepancy between the visuals and the dreamy music. For Hansel and Gretel, the boundary between reality and fairytale dreamworlds grows blurred as they sink into hunger-induced hallucinations. Markus L. Frank conducts the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau.

Hänsel und Gretel Humperdinck

Public

Hansel and Gretel

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading