Hansel and Gretel

For the delight of children everywhere, and also of many who have outgrown fantasies of witches and nightmares of infantile terrors, the Los Angeles Opera has staged Humperdinck’s “Hansel und Gretel”. Just in time for the holiday season.

Assuredly, no Christmas season is ever complete without this delightful fairy tale gracing an operatic season somewhere in the lyrical world!
In the evening we attended, hundreds of children from three to whatever sat transfixed on their pillows as the story of two other children perhaps a bit older than they unfolded before their impressionable eyes.

“Hansel und Gretel”, with a libretto in German supplied by Adelheid Wette, is based on a Wilhelm Grimm fairy tale.
It was originally produced in German at the Hoftheater, Weimar, on December 23, 1893.

It was to reach the American shores soon after its premiere, and precisely on October 8, 1895, at the Dale Theater of New York City.
Ten years later, it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, in German, on November 25, 1905, with a cast that included the great mezzo-soprano Louise Homer as The Witch. Maestro Humperdinck himself crossed the Atlantic to supervise the production.

Strangely enough, the opera was destined at first to be a home performance only. The composer’ sister, Adelheid Wette, had written some verses based on the Grimm’s fairy tale which she sent to her brother, Engelbert, to set to music for a Christmas celebration intended for her children.
The entertainment proved so successful that sister and brother elaborated it into a full length opera.

Notwithstanding the relative qualities and quantities of the work, as well as the fairyland central theme, “Hansel und Gretel” has been performed by many celebrated stars of the operatic world, including Renata Scotto as Gretel, Fiorenza Cossotto as Hansel, and Elena Nikolai as The Witch, in an unforgettable La Scala performance of not too many years ago.

Most of the time, nowadays, the three-act opera is performed in English here in America, the same idiom used by the Los Angeles Opera in its November and December performances which also sported a newly commissioned libretto in the English language elaborated by Richard Sparks.

The only difference is that the local operatic ensemble chose to perform it in two acts, a very plausible undertaking when one considers the brevity of the work adorned by the marvelous simplicity of Humperdinck’s melodies, and the utter grace of the folkloristic music which enhances the composer’s craftmanship as well as the prodigious orchestration of the score and the orchestral colors.

We have no quarrel with stage director/designer Douglas Fitch as he told the time-honored story, other than, given the epoch, Peter , the father of Hansel and Gretel, should have brought all of the food intended for his family in a basket and not in paper bags, unknown at that particular time. Otherwise, his stage direction illustrated the story.

Maestro William Vendice, substituting for ailing Alan Gilbert at the last minute, conducted the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra with aplomb and full cognizance of the beauty of the music, extracting every worthy moment which has contributed to make the opera a children’s masterpiece.

And kudos to the interpreters of Humperdinck’s work: the Hansel of soprano Lucy Schaufer, the Gretel of soprano Maria Kanyova, the Peter of baritone Donnie Ray Albert, the Sandman of soprano Christine Brandes, the much applauded Witch of tenor Graham Clark, the Dew Fairy of soprano Stacey Tappan, and, for her share of credits, to the Mother Gertrude of soprano Luana DeVol.

Particularly admired the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus of Anne Tomlinson, the dancing of Eddie David Di Maranan, Meg Howry, Heather Lipson, Matthew Shaffer and Eric Underwood, as well as that of the other members of the supporting cast, and the lighting of Mark Jonathan.

Luigi Smaldino

 

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