Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, tirs. 31 maj 2016, Fra (2016/2016), Instrueret af Christiane Lutz, Dirigent Vinzenz Praxmarer, Theater am Fleischmarkt, Vienna, Austria

Humperdinck's sister Adelheid Wette initially planned the fairy tale play Hansel and Gretel only as a private, domestic theater performance, for which she only asked her brother to set a few verses to music. But when the performance was so well received by the family, they decided to make a Singspiel out of it. But Humperdinck's enthusiasm for fairy tales grew to such an extent that he finally composed a full-length opera, which he called a “children's parlor festival” in an ironic allusion to Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal. This version had its world premiere on December 23, 1893 at the Hoftheater in Weimar under Richard Strauss and has since secured a regular place in the Christmas repertoire of opera houses around the world. Nevertheless, in addition to conventional productions that followed the instructions laid down by the composer in the piano reduction, in the recent past there have been repeated attempts at interpretation in the sense of a psychological interpretation of fairy tales. Christiane Lutz, who made her debut in the chamber opera last season as a director and cast a look at Handel's Rinaldo inspired by Hitchcock's films, now presents her view of what is essentially a cruel story. Just the date of the premiere on May 12th makes it clear that she will most likely abstain from pre-Christmas romance. The Vienna Chamber Orchestra performs under the direction of the conductor Vinzenz Praxmarer.