Engelbert Humperdinck

Hänsel and Gretel

For the first time, all available sources of Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera, Hansel und Gretel, have been consulted in the preparation of the present new edition. In evaluating them it became clear that a great number of corrections needed to be taken into account, for which the composer was indebted to the experiences of conductors known to him - Richard Strauss (Weimar), Hermann Levi (Munich) and Ludwig Rottenberg (Frankfurt) - as well as hiw own insight. In this way, a critical edition has been produced which not only offers an Urtext entirely faithful to the sources, but also provides important new improvements, tested on the stage an approved by the composer. Where, previously, slight alterations have unquestionably been necessary in order to prevent the vocal lines from being covered by the large-scale orchestration, convincing and authentic solutions are now available. Also, for the first time, the work's 'Desau-Finale' has been published, which Humperdinck composed for the production by Cosima Wagner.