Engelbert Humperdinck
Late Romantic · 1854–1921
Engelbert Humperdinck, born in Siegburg, Germany, in 1854, spent time in his twenties as an assistant to Richard Wagner, helping prepare the premiere of Parsifal at Bayreuth. He then settled into a quieter life of teaching and criticism, and might be a footnote today except for a family favor.
His sister had written verses based on the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel and asked him for a few songs to go with them. The songs grew into a full opera, premiered in 1893 with Richard Strauss conducting, and it has held the stage ever since: Wagner's rich orchestral manner put in the service of folk-song simplicity. In the 1960s an English pop singer borrowed his name outright, which is why it may sound oddly familiar.
There is one obvious place to start: Hänsel and Gretel, ideally around Christmas, when opera houses traditionally stage it.
18 works in the catalog, across 4 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- Piano Quintet in E flat major
- Piano Quintet in G
- String Quartet in C
- String Quartet Movement in C minor
- String Quartet Movement in E minor
Orchestral
- Die Maurische Rhapsodie
- Dornröschen, 5 tone pictures from the opera
- Merchant of Venice, incidental music
Stage
- Hänsel and Gretel Opera
- Die Marketenderin Opera
- Dornröschen, opera
- Königskinder Opera
Vocal
- An das Christkind
- Rosmarin, "Es wollt ein Jungfrau früh aufstehn"
- Weihnachten, "Leise weht's durch alle Lande"
- When At Night I Go To Sleep, song
- Wiegenlied
- Winterlied, "Geduld, du kleine Knospe"
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