Humperdinck started to search for a subject for an opera, and his family suggested the Grimm Brothers' story, Hansel and Gretel as suitable for a Singspiel (song-play). Then his sister Adelheid sent him four nursery poems she had written for her children and asked him to set them to music. Within two hours he had finished the task and labeled the result A Nursery Consecration Festival Drama by Adelheid Wette, ‘Hansel and Gretel', set to music by Uncle Ebebe (His nieces pet name for him).

He thought that would be the end of it, but his father, sister Adelheid, brother-in-law and future fiancée got together and created a libretto for a small-scale Singspiel. He was convinced to complete a score which incorporated some well-known folk songs. The resulting work was performed privately for his sister's children and invited guests, and he presented the score to his fiancée as an engagement present. The orchestration took an additional two years during which he sent it to various opera houses for consideration, married and had a son. He had little hope for the works success, but one of those who saw a copy of the completed score was the famous composer Richard Strauss. He was entranced by it and suggested it be presented at Christmas, insisting on conducting it himself. The premiere was scheduled for Munich.

Then the troubles began. First it was postponed because of a flu epidemic, and then it was moved to Weimar. The score for the overture was lost in the post, and the premiere had to be performed without it. (Meanwhile rehearsals continued in Munich so the cast and Humperdinck remained there.) The Weimar cast consisted mostly of understudies, and the production was woefully amateurish. However, Hansel and Gretel finally saw the light on December 23, 1893. (Since then, even though the story takes place in the summertime, it has always been associated with Christmas.) The initial response was promising and soon it became on overwhelming success. In the 1890s the Germans had become tired of the lurid plots and the overly dramatic Italian operas. They looked for one a which would be truly German and also popular. Within a year it had been produced in about 70 different theatres and within 20 years had been translated into 20 languages, Hansel and Gretel was first given in New York in 1895. It was the first opera to be broadcast on the radio (from Covent Garden, London in 1923) and, on Christmas Day, 1931, it inaugurated the live Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcasts

Humperdinck sent a copy of the score to Wagner's wife, Cosima, in memory of the time he had spent as the composer's assistant. In return she sent him a gingerbread house. He took his courage into his hands and asked if a performance could be given under her direction. She loved the opera and loved to direct, so she eagerly agreed and made a number of suggestions about the sets and the action.

Hansel and Gretel is a Märchenspiel or fairy tale play. It started a whole new school in Germany and turned from Wagner's heroic mythology to the enchanted world of fairy tales.

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Revised September 2009
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