In April 1890 Humperdinck was asked by his sister, Adelheid Wette, to set to music four folksongs from the Grimm fairy-tale Hänsel und Gretel for performance by her children. The work might have rested there; but at the time Humperdinck was seeking the text for a comic opera, and his family persuaded him that the songs might be extended into a small Singspiel. The piece was performed privately in this version in the Wettes’ house; the delighted response encouraged Humperdinck to turn the material into a fully-fledged opera, even though he had doubts about the fairy-tale being suited to such treatment.

On receiving the completed score in October 1893, Richard Strauss declared the opera a masterpiece. The première was due to be conducted by Hermann Levi in Munich, on 14 December 1893; but the illness of Hanna Borchers (Gretel) caused a postponement and the honour of conducting the first performance fell to Strauss in Weimar. Pauline de Ahna was to have sung Hänsel, but she too was ill and Fräulein Schubert sang Hänsel in her place, while Schubert’s part of Gretel was taken over at short notice by Marie Kayser. Ferdinand Wiedey sang Peter and Hermine Finck the Witch. The overture could not be performed as the parts had not arrived; any shortcomings in the première, however, were compensated for by the speed and success with which the opera was taken up by other theatres, aided by the Hänsel und Gretel touring company founded by Georg Richard Kruse in 1894. The emperor praised the work at its Berlin première, conducted by Weingartner on 13 October 1894. Two outstanding individual performances were given within the first year, by Hedwig Schako as Gretel in the Frankfurt première and by Ernestine Schumann-Heink as the Witch in Hamburg with Mahler.

The progress of Hänsel und Gretel abroad was equally impressive. The London première took place as early as 1894: Arditi conducted the opera in English at Daly’s Theatre, with Marie Elba as Hänsel and Jeanne Douste as Gretel. The American première, at the Metropolitan in 1905, was conducted by Alfred Hertz. Hänsel und Gretel was the first opera to be broadcast complete from Covent Garden, in January 1923. In 1954 the first recording of the opera was made, Karajan conducting, with Elisabeth Grümmer as Hänsel and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Gretel. In Germany, performances of Hänsel und Gretel have remained popularly associated with Christmas.

Humperdinck referred to the overture as ‘Children’s Life’; it sums up much of the poetic and musical content of the work. Exuberant dances are balanced by the hymnlike sounds of the ‘Evening Prayer’; its phrases spread in extending arches, suggesting the divine providence that will protect the children in their adventures. As this theme combines polyphonically with the folklike dances, the music becomes more rumbustious – but, as Humperdinck said, such is the way with children and their games.

Act 1  In the broom-maker’s house  The curtain rises to show the children at more serious business, Hänsel making brooms and Gretel knitting stockings. Gretel sings a folksong, ‘Suse, liebe Suse’, to accompany her work; Hänsel takes over, though a slight interruption of the gentle flow suggests that their minds are not wholly on their business. Hänsel then breaks the thread more decisively by throwing down his work and complaining of hunger. Even Gretel’s reference to providence, to a phrase of the Evening Prayer, cannot silence his cries. A dance provides the diversion needed; Gretel makes a game of sweeping all Hänsel’s grumbling out of the house (‘Griesgram hinaus’). The reappearance of the gentle accompaniment of ‘Suse, liebe Suse’ at the close of the song confirms that peace has returned. Gretel is even able to show Hänsel some milk that a neighbour has given them for the family’s supper. The children’s delighted expectation is reflected in the new variations woven from the ‘Suse’ folksong; but one fragment from the original persists, reminding Gretel of the work they should be doing. It seems the reminder may prove effective until Hänsel mentions the word ‘dancing’, when thoughts of work vanish and the ‘Suse’ motif is swept into the dance-song ‘Brüderchen komm tanz mit mir’. Unlike ‘Suse, liebe Suse’ (or the later ‘Ein Männlein steht im Walde’), this is not a quoted folksong though it is equally successful in evoking a children’s world. The variations stray more and more from the opening as the children are led further and further into their game. The momentum of the dance is halted only by the dramatic entry of Gertrud. As the children attempt to explain why they have done so little work, the forgotten ‘Suse’ fragment slips back, punctuated by ominous signs of the mother’s anger. Gertrud knocks over the precious milk and in despair chases the children out to pick strawberries. Her solitary lament, ‘Da liegt nun der gute Topf’, is accompanied by last sorrowful echoes of the ‘Suse’ motif.

The distant sounds of the broom-maker’s song, ‘Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la’, begin in the minor key as a slightly humorous lament for the poor man in his hunger, but a lilting major version soon follows. At first Gertrud puts such energy down to drinking, but as Peter produces food from his basket the mood of lamentation is forgotten. Even Gertrud’s account of the spilt milk fails to damp their spirits and dance fragments continue to punctuate their dialogue. At the height of their jubilance Peter pauses to inquire about the children. When Gertrud reveals that they have been sent into the forest, the rhythms change in character, and Peter warns of the Witch’s Ride. At first the music remains spirited, but as Peter settles into his Witch’s Ballad it grows in intensity. Finally convinced of the children’s real danger in the forest, Gertrud hurries out of the house with Peter to seek them.

Act 2  In the wood  As the prelude develops the music of the Witch’s Ride from folksong to orchestral tone-painting, it seems that Peter has hardly exaggerated the terrors of the gingerbread Witch. With a gradual calming of the Bacchanalian dance figures, the curtain rises on the more peaceful forest scene of Gretel making a garland of rosehips and Hänsel picking strawberries. They sing a cheerful folksong, ‘Ein Männlein steht im Walde’, to a spare orchestral accompaniment. After the heavy rhythms of the Witch’s Ride the children’s innocent pleasures are suggested by the weaving of delicate melodic fragments. When a cuckoo picks up their falling interval of a 3rd, they echo its call and absorb it further into their melodies. They also make a game of mimicking his stealing habits with their strawberries, only to find to their horror that they have eaten every one.

From this point the melodic lines and orchestral texture take on a more opaque quality, as if the wood were darkening around them. From the sudden silence as Hänsel admits he has lost their way, a more mysterious and sustained melodic line emerges, one first heard as a background to the Witch’s Ride. It is repeated in shorter note values and chromatically distorted versions as the children’s fear of the forest grows. Mists rise, and their imaginations succeed in turning the cuckoo’s call into a portent of doom and even in invoking the rhythms of the Witch’s Ride. When the mists clear, all that is revealed is the Sandman, a small grey figure with a sack on his back. The heavier sonorities vanish, leaving harmonics from harp and strings to accompany his simple song, ‘Der kleine Sandmann bin ich’. As though to indicate that the peaceful sleep the Sandman brings, as he sprinkles his sand on to the children’s eyes, is real, his song is carried over into an expansive chorale-like melody. The children respond by singing their Evening Prayer, its reassuring triadic shapes purging their minds of all horrors. The earlier mysterious shape is incorporated into the polyphonic sequences that grow from the Prayer, which is now connected with heavenly mysteries, as in a ‘Dream Pantomime’ a ladder reaches down from heaven and 14 angels are seen to surround the sleeping children. The symphonic proportions of this ballet-pantomime more than balance the excesses of the Witch’s Ride and leave one in no doubt that good will triumph in the coming battle between evil and innocence.

Act 3  The gingerbread house  The spiky motif for the gingerbread house which begins the third act promises a rude awakening for the children. Its staccato rhythms foreshadow the character of the Witch herself, but the prelude soon weaves them into a smoother texture, as though seeking to prolong the mood of the ballet-pantomime. When the Dew Fairy enters to awaken the children, he sings his own version of the Sandman’s song, ‘Der kleine Taumann heiss’ ich’, followed by a melody from the overture closely associated with the Evening Prayer. The suspended melodic lines of Gretel’s first words show her still hovering on the borders of sleep; then she wakes Hänsel and a more everyday world returns, as the two children mimic birdsong. Hänsel, however, soon refers back to the music of the Prayer, and Gretel joins him in relating their dream of the 14 angels.

The polyphonic lines of the ballet-pantomime prove so pervasive that they seem to overflow into the moment when the morning mists clear to reveal the gingerbread house, making it seem part of the same dream-imagery, except that barcarolle rhythms now convey a more sensual character. As the children express their delight in the sweets making up the house, a new staccato figure is heard, offering a more obvious contrast to the Prayer. The combination of these two figures creates an irresistible momentum. The children ignore the warnings of the gingerbread house’s spiky motif in the orchestra and they remain unaware of the Witch creeping up on them and throwing a noose round Hänsel’s neck until the staccato rhythms of her laughter break out from the whole orchestra.

From this point the barcarolle rhythms seem like an ensnaring web, with the Witch singing many new variations to prolong the flow. Although she entices the children with words of endearment, their responses show that they recognize her true nature. Indeed, when Hänsel slips his halter and tries to escape with Gretel, the melodic façade drops and she fixes them with a spell. She shuts Hänsel in a cage, intending to fatten him up, and sends Gretel indoors to set the table: Gretel is already plump enough for cooking. The Witch’s power might seem frightening, except that the constant return to the barcarolle rhythms makes her culinary preparations seem like a reckless game. At one point her excitement grows so great that it spills over into a return of the Witch’s Ride, ‘Hurr hopp hopp’. The children await their moment. As the oven burns hotter and the Witch’s excitement continues to rise, Gretel breaks her spell and frees her brother; when the Witch tells her to look into the oven she feigns stupidity and asks the witch to demonstrate, and the two of them bundle her into the oven. They express their feelings in the Gingerbread Waltz, ‘Nun ist die Hexe tot’, their own version of the barcarolle figures. The explosion of the Witch’s oven heralds a further transformation: the gingerbread figures surrounding the house are revealed as dead children, waiting for the touch of Hänsel and Gretel to bring them back to life. As their subdued song ‘O rühre mich an’ changes into a dance (the sign of returning life), more of the opera’s themes become woven into the fabric, as in the overture. ‘Ral-la-la-la’ heralds the arrival of Peter and Gertrud, closely followed by the dance-song from the first act. The reappearance of the Evening Prayer confirms its place in the children’s triumph.

Critics have often debated as to whether the richness of the musical material of Hänsel und Gretel and the elaboration of its development are not too much for a simple, traditional fairy story. Yet despite the Wagnerian range of colours and textures that Humperdinck drew from the orchestra, he succeeded in keeping the melodic and rhythmic foundations of his music simple. By indulging in seemingly endless polyphonic variations on his folk melodies, Humperdinck actually remained close in spirit to the carefree sensuousness of children. It was this uninhibited exploitation of Wagnerian musical techniques, without the complexities or philosophical undertones of music drama, that so attracted audiences at the time. Yet perhaps the opera’s most enduring quality is its melodic appeal, which ties the music directly to folksong and gives reality to Humperdinck’s claim of having recreated Märchenoper.

AMANDA GLAUERT

© Oxford University Press 2007