CHAN 3143(2) yipyip.indd 1 30/4/07 10:01:16 © Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 –1921) Hansel and Gretel Märchenspiel (fairy-tale) in three acts Libretto by Adelheid Wette after a fairy-tale by the Brothers Grimm, English translation by David Pountney Hansel Gretel, his sister Gertrude, their Mother Peter, their Father The Witch The Dew Fairy The Sandman The Cuckoo New London Children’s Choir Philharmonia Orchestra Jennifer Larmore mezzo-soprano Rebecca Evans soprano Rosalind Plowright mezzo-soprano Robert Hayward baritone Jane Henschel mezzo-soprano Sarah Tynan soprano Diana Montague mezzo-soprano Sarah Coppen Ronald Corp chorus master Gareth Hancock assistant conductor Sir Charles Mackerras Engelbert Humperdinck with Hansel and Gretel Caricature by Oscar Garvens 3 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 2-3 30/4/07 10:02:18 COMPACT DISC ONE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Time Overture 7:39 [p. 76] Act I ‘Goosey goosey gander, the mouse in the straw’ ‘Down with the dumps, out with the grumps’ ‘Little brother dance with me’ Gretel, Hansel ‘Hansel!’ Mother, Gretel, Hansel ‘My jug all in bits’ Mother ‘Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, light the fire’ ‘But wait, say where are the children?’ ‘But there’s one, a crone, who lives alone’ Father, Mother Prelude to Act II: The Witches’ Ride Act II ‘A dwarf stood in the forest’ Gretel, Hansel ‘Cuckoo, cuckoo’ Cuckoo, Hansel, Gretel 13 14 2:57 [p. 76] 2:40 [p. 77] 3:39 [p. 78] 15 16 ‘Gretel, I think we’ve lost the way’ Hansel, Gretel, voices ‘I am the little sandman’ Sandman, Hansel, Gretel ‘Where each child lays down its head’ Gretel, Hansel Pantomime 2:39 [p. 88] 3:24 [p. 89] 5:01 [p. 89] TT 58:49 COMPACT DISC TWO 1:40 [p. 80] 6:27 [p. 81] 3:01 [p. 83] 2:35 [p. 84] 1 2 3 4 5 2:53 [p. 85] 6 3:16 [p. 86] Page 4:18 [p. 87] 2:15 [p. 79] 4:17 [p. 85] 4 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 4-5 Time Page Act III [Introduction] ‘When dew drops on the daisy’ Dew Fairy, Gretel ‘I slept here? On a pine-tree bed!’ ‘Keep still! No sound!’ Gretel, Hansel ‘Greedy little mousey, who’s nibbling at my housey?’ Witch, Hansel, Gretel ‘Hansel, don’t be so greedy’ Gretel, Hansel, Witch 2:43 [p. 90] 1:40 [p. 90] 5:22 [p. 90] 4:11 [p. 91] 2:00 [p. 92] 5:11 [p. 93] 5 30/4/07 10:02:21 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ‘Stop! Hocus pocus, witch’s ground’ Witch ‘Now Gretel, you’re the sensible one’ Witch, Gretel, Hansel ‘So hopp hopp hopp, galopp lopp lopp’ Witch ‘Now wake up, it’s time to eat’ Witch, Gretel, Hansel ‘Hoorah! Now that the witch is dead’ Gretel, Hansel ‘The dead arise, but cannot see’ Gingerbread Children, Gretel, Hansel, Father ‘Father! Mother!’ Gretel, Hansel, Mother, Father, Gingerbread Children © Beth Bergman 2007 Time Page 1:17 [p. 95] 5:23 [p. 95] 1:32 [p. 97] 3:51 [p. 97] 2:40 [p. 99] 4:05 [p. 99] 2:16 [p. 101] TT 42:19 Jennifer Larmore as Hansel in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel 6 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 6-7 7 30/4/07 10:02:22 On session: Jennifer Larmore and Rebecca Evans On session: Sir Charles Mackerras 8 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 8-9 9 30/4/07 10:02:23 Humperdinck’s musical version of Grimm’s scary fairy-tale has caught the imagination of generations – children and adults alike. So we were delighted to assemble a wizard cast under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras to conjure up (in English!) all the magic and menace of this fabulous score. Spellbinding! Sir Peter Moores, CBE, DL June 2007 Sir Peter Moores with a portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson by Lemuel Francis Abbott, acquired for Compton Verney © Lyndon Parker 10 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 10-11 11 30/4/07 10:02:28 Hansel, Gretel and Humperdinck It’s sometimes asked whether Hansel and Gretel is really an opera for children or an opera for adults. The answer, of course, is that it’s for both. Children will enjoy its straightforward songs and singing games, its rampaging comic–grotesque witch with her monstrous eating habits, and its supernatural apparitions, culminating in the Dream Pantomime sequence which, in traditional productions, features fourteen angels who descend a staircase to watch over the children asleep in the nocturnal forest. But then the child in us all will also enjoy these things. In addition, adults will probably relish Humperdinck’s rich orchestration and subtle harmony, his consistently strong melodic invention and his masterly counterpoint, and his amazing variety of mood and texture, veering from nearWagnerian complexity to a Johann Strauss-like exuberance and danciness. But then children – even if they’ve never heard of Wagner or counterpoint – will at least unconsciously register these pleasurably, too. It’s an opera for everybody. A harder question to answer is whether this particular fairy-tale, or fairy-tales in general, are suitable for children – or even for adults. Humperdinck’s opera has a good deal of comedy in it, several comforting moments and an officially Happy Ending, but there has been a hefty sprinkling of disturbing elements along the way. In fairy-tales, there usually is – especially in Grimm’s fairy tales. The German brothers Jacob Ludwig (1785 – 1863) and Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786 – 1859) were distinguished academics and, before the term was coined, folklorists. They published important volumes on German grammar, vocabulary and usage, but their most famous work was the jointly collected and edited Kinder- und Hausmärchen of 1812, which has come down to modern generations as the frequently reprinted Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Before their time, only a small number of what we now know as fairy tales had been published in any language, but the success of their version encouraged many other collections to be made throughout Europe, spawning a new and highly influential literary genre. They were timely, too, in that profound changes in European society during the nineteenth century meant that many of these 12 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 12-13 orally reproduced folk stories would, within a generation or two, lose their currency and eventually disappear. The Brothers Grimm and their followers saved a good deal of this material from being lost forever. Hansel and Gretel appeared in the very first edition of their tales. It is an even crueller story than the adaptation of it made by Humperdinck’s sister, Adelheid Wette, which eventually became his most famous opera. Hansel and Gretel’s father and mother (the latter metamorphosed into the slightly less upsetting stepmother in the second and subsequent editions) are so poor that they agree to ‘lose’ their children in the forest in order to have enough food for themselves to eat. It is the mother who comes up with this idea and persuades her reluctant spouse to go along with it. Hansel’s cleverness saves him and his sister on the first attempt (he drops shiny pebbles along the path, enabling them to return the same way), but on the second he uses breadcrumbs, and of course the birds eat them. Thoroughly lost, they discover the witch’s house and its owner, and despatch her more or less as in the opera (though without releasing any gingerbread children), then somehow manage to find their way home, where they are undoubtedly relieved to find that their mother/stepmother has in the meantime died. It doesn’t take much of a Freudian to pick up on the unstated connection in this dark little tale between the mother/stepmother figure and the witch, especially given the demise of the former at roughly the same time as the latter. This psychological relationship is highlighted in performances of the opera in which the two roles are sung by the same singer, though that was not Humperdinck’s intention and is not followed on this recording. Another performance tradition, especially common in Germany, is to have the role of the witch sung by a tenor in drag. They’re both interesting ideas, though obviously mutually exclusive. That the Wette/Humperdinck version not only allows Gertrud to live but to rejoice in the reunion with her children gives their ending a warmheartedness that is as profound in its way as the grim Grimm version, and clearly more likely to ensure stage popularity. Humperdinck’s opera belongs to a sub-category of German opera called the Märchenoper, or in this instance Märchenspiel (literally ‘fairy-tale play’: as we shall see, Hansel and Gretel was not originally an opera at all). The tradition developed in the 13 30/4/07 10:02:31 wake of the revival of interest in the folk or fairy-tale instigated by the Brothers Grimm, and reached its full flowering in the latenineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. A number of composers specialised in it, notably Humperdinck himself, who also went to the Brothers Grimm for Die sieben Geislein (The Seven Young Kids) in 1895, to the earlier French fairy-tale collector Perrault for Dornröschen (The Sleeping Beauty) in 1902, and to an invented folk-tale by Ernst Rosmer (pseudonym of the dramatist Else BernsteinPorges, who survived the concentration camp of Terezín, dying in 1949 at the age of 82) for Königskinder (final version 1910). The other major exponent was Richard Wagner’s son Siegfried (1869–1930), who was himself influenced by Humperdinck. Several of his eighteen operas are Märchenopern, a genre he explored not for escapist fantasy but as a means of dealing with difficult moral and emotional issues. Recent revivals of pieces such as Schwarzschwanenreich (The Kingdom of the Black Swan, 1910) and Der Friedensengel (The Angel of Peace, 1914) show him to have sometimes had an individual and worthwhile voice of his own, unfortunately drowned out by the tremendous noise made by his much greater father. Adelheid Wette’s original request to her brother was merely for settings of songs for a play based on Hansel and Gretel (some of the simpler passages in the opera, including those that draw on actual folksongs, reflect these beginnings). Later on the piece was expanded into a Singspiel, or opera with dialogue. The final stage was a further expansion into a through-composed opera, with some substantial orchestral sections. The miracle is that the end-result is so consistent. So skilful are Humperdinck’s transitions that no joins are noticeable. It’s a perfect example of his mentor Wagner’s dictum that the art of composition is the art of transition. Interestingly, Königskinder (Royal Children), Humperdinck’s second best-known opera, developed along similar lines, being initially conceived as incidental music to a play in 1894. This was subsequently reworked (1897) as a melodrama (i.e. speech over music), utilising the technique of Sprechgesang – later taken up by Schoenberg and Berg, in which the words are notated exactly from a rhythmical point of view, but left much more vague as to pitch – before going on to achieve its final form as a full-scale opera in 1910. Königskinder is not often revived, but when it is the score proves to be rich and fascinating. 14 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 14-15 The likeliest reason for its lack of wider success is that its tone is so much darker than that of Hansel and Gretel. The ‘royal children’ of the title – their symbolic nobility is not inherited in the case of one of the pair, but in some mysterious sense innate – are dead by the end. Perhaps audiences prefer happy endings after all. Judging from the quality of these two works, it seems probable that we ignore the rest of Humperdinck’s output to our loss. Like other ‘one-opera composers’ such as Mascagni and Leoncavallo, he was the victim of his first success. Everyone simply wanted another Hansel and Gretel. That too is understandable. Richard Strauss hailed the score as a masterpiece as soon as he read it through; and he knew a good thing when he saw one. But Humperdinck nevertheless enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a composer and teacher. A brief résumé may be in order. He was born in Siegburg, near Cologne, in 1854. He started piano lessons at seven and after seeing his first opera at the age of fourteen began to compose his own. Though Engelbert’s father opposed his musical ambitions, he allowed him to enrol at the Cologne Conservatory when he was eighteen. He studied conscientiously for several years with minor masters such as Hiller, Rheinberger and Lachner, and won a series of prizes. Even more important was his meeting in 1880 with Richard Wagner, which led to an invitation to Bayreuth, where Humperdinck acted as Wagner’s musical assistant in the preparation of the first performances of Parsifal in 1882. His own career combined periods as a teacher and critic, but his fortunes changed with the success of his fairy-tale opera Hansel and Gretel, which reached the stage just before Christmas 1893. Its reception was spectacular – within a year at least seventytwo theatres had taken the work up – and it has gone on to become a permanent feature of the operatic repertoire. Thereafter he continued to produce operas, mainly comic or written in the fairy-tale tradition of which Hansel and Gretel remains the most significant example. In 1910 the New York Metropolitan gave the premiere of his Königskinder – a fact that on its own demonstrates his huge international renown at the time. His next major work took him to London, and was written at the request of the great theatre director Max Reinhardt. Based on a medieval legend turned into a drama by Karl Vollmöller, the spectacular The Miracle, premiered in the exhibition 15 30/4/07 10:02:32 halls at Olympia in 1911, and to which Humperdinck contributed an accompanying score, told the story of a nun who deserts her order to experience life, but finds on returning penitent that she has not been missed because her place has been taken by the Virgin Mary. Reinhardt’s production, which involved thousands of performers nightly, was revived in New York in 1924 and has been filmed twice. Humperdinck’s other works include incidental music for plays (notably a Shakespeare sequence again written for Reinhardt), choral pieces, songs and chamber music. He died in Neustrelitz, not far from Berlin, in 1921. It was Richard Strauss – a great opera conductor as well as a great opera composer – who conducted the fi rst performance of Hansel and Gretel at the Court Theatre in Weimar the night before Christmas Eve in 1893. On Boxing Day 1894, it was performed for the fi rst time in the United Kingdom, at Daly’s Theatre in London, when it was presented in English. Given a theatrical run, it reached its 100th performance there the following April. When Daly’s was needed for another show, Hansel and Gretel transferred to the Gaiety, where it was presented in matinées in tandem with Mozart’s early comedy Bastien and Bastienne. Later on it moved to the Princess’s Theatre, then to the Savoy. Covent Garden audiences fi rst heard it in 1896, when it was again sung in English. In 1923, it became the fi rst opera to be broadcast in Europe when the English-language British National Opera Company performance at Covent Garden was relayed by the BBC. The work received its American premiere at Daly’s Theatre in New York on 8 October 1895, again sung in English. It entered the repertoire of the Metropolitan on 25 November 1905 (the composer attended the fi rst performance), and on Christmas Day 1931 became the fi rst opera to be broadcast live from the Met, once more sung in English. Highly successful recent productions in the UK have included David Pountney’s version for English National Opera, which opened at the London Coliseum on 16 December 1987 and was fi rst conducted by Mark Elder, and Richard Jones’s staging for Welsh National Opera, which was fi rst conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and opened at the New Theatre, Cardiff, on 10 December 1998. © 2007 George Hall 16 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 16-17 Synopsis by baking them alive! They rush off together to look for the children. COMPACT DISC ONE Act II In the forest 10 Prelude. 11 – 12 In the woods Gretel is making a garland of flowers, while Hansel collects the wild strawberries and eats them. When the strawberries have all been eaten the children begin to search for more, but it has grown dark 13 and they realise that they are lost. A thick mist rises and the children become frightened, 14 but the mist clears to reveal a little Sandman, who sprinkles sleeping dust in the children’s eyes. 15 After they have said their evening prayer they fall asleep together. The mist envelops them and becomes a staircase of clouds, and fourteen angels descend to guard the children through the night. 16 Pantomime. Overture Act I In the broom-maker’s house Left at home by their parents, Hansel is at work for his father making brooms while his sister Gretel knits stockings. 2 – 4 Gretel distracts her brother by singing a song; Hansel joins in, and soon the two are singing and dancing. 5 – 6 When their mother Gertrude returns, she makes an angry scene at how little work the children have done and accidentally knocks over the jug of milk. Furious, she sends the children out to pick wild strawberries from the forest, before sitting down and falling asleep, exhausted. 1 COMPACT DISC TWO The children’s father, Peter, comes home in a triumphant mood. He has managed to sell all his brooms and has brought home food. The parents dance happily round the room. 8 – 9 When Peter learns that the children are not at home, and have been sent into the wood to pick berries, he is horrified: the forest is the home of the Witch, who lures children into her cottage only to turn them into gingerbread 7 Act III The gingerbread house 1 Introduction. 2 – 3 As dawn breaks, the Dew Fairy comes to wake the children, shaking dew drops over them. 4 As they play, the mist clears and they see a gingerbread cottage surrounded by a fence of gingerbread figures. 17 30/4/07 10:02:34 for her performances in the coloratura roles of the baroque and bel canto. She has been particularly associated with the role of Rosina (The Barber of Seville) which she has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, the Staatsoper in Berlin, in Bonn, Paris, San Francisco and Buenos Aires. Other roles include Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena) in Nice; Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Marseilles; Isolier (Le Comte Ory) at La Scala, Milan; Dorabella (Così fan tutte) at the Salzburg Festival; Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) at New York’s Carnegie Hall, at the Opéra de Paris-Bastille and in Geneva; The Italian Girl in Algiers at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin and in Paris and Vienna; Ruggiero (Alcina) with Chicago Lyric Opera; Sesto (La clemenzo di Tito) at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona; the title role in Carmen with Washington Opera; Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera and in Madrid; the title role in Orfeo in Madrid; Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) in Japan and at the Metropolitan Opera, Hansel (Hansel and Gretel) at the Metropolitan Opera and the BBC Proms concerts; Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the title role in La Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera. Originally from Atlanta, Jennifer Larmore (Hansel) studied at the Westminster Choir College of Princeton, New Jersey and then privately with John Bullock and Regina Resnik. She is famous 18 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 18-19 Jennifer Larmore has made over seventy recordings to date, something which has earned her the distinction of being the most recorded mezzo-soprano of all time. These recordings include a disc of Great Operatic Arias for Chandos’ Opera in English series, as well as Lucia di Lammermoor, Julius Caesar, Orfeo, The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, and, for Opera Rara, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Bianca e Falliero, Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra, Francesca di Foix, and Adelaide di Borgogna. In 2002 Jennifer Larmore was appointed a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres in recognition of her contribution to the world of music. Sian Trenberth Douglas Robertson 5 – 6 As they pick at the gingerbread the witch sneaks up on them and throws a rope around Hansel’s neck. 7 – 9 As he tries to break free, the witch casts a spell on the children. She locks Hansel in the stable and sends Gretel indoors to set the table. 10 But Gretel has remembered the witch’s spell and uses it to free her brother. The witch asks Gretel to check the oven, but Gretel pretends to be stupid and asks the witch to show her what to do. Quickly the children push her into the oven and slam the door. 11 – 12 The oven explodes and the gingerbread figures on the fence turn back into the children they had been before they were baked. 13 Hansel and Gretel’s parents arrive, and amid much happiness all discover that the witch has been turned into a gingerbread cake. (Sweeney Todd ). A regular guest at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, her roles there have included Nannetta conducted by Zubin Mehta, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zdenka (Arabella), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Ilia (Idomeneo) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro). She has sung Ilia for the Netherlands Opera and Opéra de Lausanne; the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen for Scottish Opera; Pamina, Susanna, Ilia, Marzellina (Fidelio), Norina (Don Pasquale) and Hero (Beatrice and Benedict) for Welsh National Opera, and Romilda (Xerxes) and Ginevra (Ariodante) for English National Opera. She has also established a major operatic career in America where she has sung Susanna and Zerlina for the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Susanna for the Santa Fe Opera; Pamina and Adèle (Die Fledermaus) for the Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Zerlina, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) and Adina (L’elisir d’amore) for San Francisco Opera. Concert appearances include the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival; Gala Concerts with Andrea Bocelli and with Luciano Pavarotti; and appearances at the Melbourne International Festival. In recital, she has sung at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Barcelona, Ravinia, Buxton, Belfast and Beaulieu-sur Mer Festivals. Rebecca Evans (Gretel) was born in South Wales and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She received support from the Peter Moores Foundation to study with Ronald Schneider in Berlin. At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, she has sung Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nannetta (Falstaff ) and Johanna 19 30/4/07 10:02:36 Rosalind Plowright (the Mother) has performed in virtually every major opera house in the world including new productions at Covent Garden, English National Opera, in Paris, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, at the Vienna State Opera, in Athens, at the Metropolitan Opera, in San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Carnegie Hall, La Scala Milan, Verona, Florence, La Fenice, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Santiago. Robert Hayward (the Father) studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the National Opera Studio, and made his professional opera debut singing the title role in Don Giovanni for Glyndebourne Touring Opera. He has performed at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Houston Grand Opera, New Israeli Opera, and Minnesota Fritz Curzon Rosalind Plowright returned to Covent Garden for Sweeney Todd and made her debut in the Maggio Musicale in Firenze in two operas by Luigi Dallapiccola. Recordings include Queen Elizabeth I (Mary Stuart), Desdemona (Otello) and Amneris (Aida) for Chandos’ Opera in English series, as well as La forza del destino alongside José Carreras, Il trovatore alongside Placido Domingo, Mendelssohn’s Elijah (for Chandos), La Vestale, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Mahler’s Second Symphony. Fritz Curzon Recordings include Marzellina (Fidelio), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) and Ilia (Idomeneo) for Chandos’ Opera in English series, as well as Nannetta (Falstaff ) with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a series of Gilbert and Sullivan recordings with Sir Charles Mackerras and a solo recording of Italian songs. She also sang Belinda in the film of Dido and Aeneas (also released on Chandos), and hosted her own BBC television series ‘A Touch of Classics’ with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. 20 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 20-21 Opera in a wide repertoire including Wotan and the Wanderer in the Ring, Amfortas (Parsifal), Jokanaan (Salome), Figaro and Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), the title roles in The Flying Dutchman, Mazeppa, Saul, Eugene Onegin and Don Giovanni, Iago (Otello), Ford (Falstaff ), Scarpia (Tosca), Marcello (La bohème), Escamillo (Carmen), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Wotan/Wanderer in English National Opera’s Ring cycle. Concert engagements have included Belshazzar’s Feast, Tippett’s The Mask of Time, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Haydn’s Creation, The Dream of Gerontius, Mozart’s Requiem, and Das klagende Lied and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Recordings include Dr Schön (Lulu) as part of Chandos’ Opera in English series, and The Pilgrim’s Progress, also for Chandos. (Elektra) for the San Francisco Opera; the Principessa (Suor Angelica) with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chailly; Dialogues des Carmélites in Amsterdam; the Kostelnička (Jenůfa) under Ozawa in Japan, and the Kabanicka (Katya Kabanova) for the Salzburg Festival. For The Royal Opera, Covent Garden she has sung Fricka and Waltraute, Ul rica (Un ballo in maschera), Klytemnestra, Mrs Grose (The Turn of the Screw); at La Scala, Milan she has sung Herodias (Salome), and Cassandre (Les Troyens). Her roles at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich include Herodias, Klytemnestra, Ulrica, Mistress Quickly (Falstaff ) and Ortrud (Lohengrin); at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin Klytemnestra, Herodias and Ortrud , and at the Vienna State Opera Klytemnestra, Fricka and Mistress Quickly. It is the Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten) which has become her signature role, which she has sung in Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and at the Metropolitan Opera. Jane Henschel (the Witch) was born in Wisconsin, studied at the University of Southern California and subsequently moved to Germany. Roles include Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress) at Glyndebourne, Saito Kinen and Salzburg Festivals; Brangäne (Tristan and Isolde) for the Los Angeles Opera and the Paris Opéra; Klytemnestra 21 30/4/07 10:02:38 of Russia; and Elsie Maynard (The Yeomen of the Guard) and Gianetta (The Gondoliers) for Phoenix Opera. She has recorded the roles of Sister Constance (The Carmelites) and Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) for Chandos’ Opera in English series. Jane Henschel’s recordings include Krasa’s Verlobung im Traum, The Rake’s Progress, Albéniz’ Merlin, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. Mike Hoban John Clark Sarah Tynan (the Dew Fairy) was born in London and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music (with Penelope Mackay). At the Royal Academy she was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. Since joining English National Opera as a Company Principal her roles have included Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Papagena (The Magic Flute), Iphis (Jephtha), Atalanta (Xerxes), Yum-Yum (The Mikado) and Sister Constance (The Carmelites). Other operatic engagements include Tytania for La Monnaie Brussels; Bella (The Midsummer Marriage) for St Endellion Festival with Richard Hickox; Pretty Polly in Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy at the Teatro Nacional San João in Porto; the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw for a British Council tour 22 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 22-23 Diana Montague (the Sandman) was born in Winchester and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. Since her debut as Zerlina with Glyndebourne Touring Opera she has appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals. Her repertory includes the major roles for mezzo-soprano in operas by Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini and Berlioz, and engagements have included Benvenuto Cellini with Rome Opera; Iphigénie en Tauride in Buenos Aires, Madrid and with Welsh National Opera; Albert Herring, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) and Andromaca in Rossini’s Ermione at Glyndebourne; Le Comte Ory in Lausanne, Rome and Glyndebourne; Proserpina in Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Amsterdam; Ariadne auf Naxos in Lisbon; Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust) in Vienna and Geneva; Minerva (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) in Amsterdam and Sydney; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Junon in Rameau’s Platée with The Royal Opera at the Edinburgh Festival and in London, and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) at English National Opera, in Bilbao and at the Teatro Real in Madrid; Diana Montague’s many recordings include Monteverdi’s Orfeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Iphigénie en Tauride; for Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata and Il crociato in Egitto; and, as part of Chandos’ Opera in English series, Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Idamante (Idomeneo), Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (highlights), Faust, and two recital discs of Great Operatic Arias. Corp in 1991 with the aim of introducing children to the challenges and fun of singing and performing all types of music. The Choir has made dozens of recordings and broadcasts, and has been invited to appear at many major festivals. Highlights of the Choir’s concert activities have included Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, Mahler’s Third Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, Carmina Burana with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and with The Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall, and three Blue Peter Proms. The extensive discography of the New London Children’s Choir encompasses Turandot and Carmen as part of Chandos’ Opera in English series, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Shostakovich’s Song of the Forests, Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, and Britten’s St Nicolas. One of the world’s great orchestras, the Philharmonia Orchestra is now in its tenth season with renowned German maestro Christoph von Dohnányi as Principal Conductor. That post was first held by Otto Klemperer, and the Orchestra has since had The New London Children’s Choir was launched by its Musical Director Ronald 23 30/4/07 10:02:41 important collaborations with Lorin Maazel (as Associate Principal Conductor), Riccardo Muti (as Principal Conductor and Music Director), Giuseppe Sinopoli (as Music Director) and, currently, Kurt Sanderling (as Conductor Emeritus), Vladimir Ashkenazy (as Conductor Laureate) and Sir Charles Mackerras (as Principal Guest Conductor), besides such eminent figures as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Guido Cantelli, Herbert von Karajan and Carlo Maria Giulini. It continues to engage worldclass conductors and soloists, and attracts Europe’s most talented young players to join its orchestral ranks. Resident Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, it maintains a central position in British musical life also through regional residencies which provide an ideal opportunity to expand a dynamic educational and community-based programme. Winner of numerous awards, it has garnered unanimous critical acclaim for its innovative programming policy, at the heart of which is a commitment to performing and commissioning new music by today’s leading composers. An increasing number of the Orchestra’s concerts are being broadcast by BBC Radio 3, including its annual performance at the BBC Proms. As the world’s most recorded symphony orchestra, with over 1000 releases to its credit, among these a number of television and feature film soundtracks, the Philharmonia Orchestra enjoys a worldwide reputation. The discography includes, for Opera Rara, several recital discs as well as numerous complete operas, and for Chandos, in the Opera in English series sponsored by the Peter Moores Foundation, The Marriage of Figaro, The Thieving Magpie, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, Lucia of Lammermoor, Faust, Carmen, Aida, La Bohème, Madam Butterfly, Turandot, the award-winning Tosca and solo recital albums of operatic arias with Bruce Ford, Diana Montague, Dennis O’Neill, Alastair Miles, Yvonne Kenny and John Tomlinson. The Philharmonia Orchestra continues to consolidate its international renown through regular tours and through prestigious residencies at the Châtelet Théâtre Musical in Paris, the Megaron in Athens and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Sir Charles Mackerras studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and came to England in 1947. He gained a British Council Scholarship to study further at the Academy of Music in Prague. His great interest and 24 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 24-25 love for Janáček commenced in 1947 on hearing Katya Kabanova conducted by the great Václav Talich. As an assistant conductor at Sadler’s Wells in 1951 he gave the first performance of Katya Kabanova in the English-speaking world. Later he introduced The Makropulos Case and From the House of the Dead at Sadler’s Wells and continued conducting highly successful productions of Janáček’s operas as well as more standard repertoire when he became Musical Director of English National Opera (1970 – 77) and for Welsh National Opera when he became their Musical Director (1987 – 1992). He has been a pioneer in the dissemination of the music of Janáček throughout the capitals of Europe and in the USA and Australia. Jenůfa has been a particular favourite. He has had a long association with the Czech Philharmonic and recorded most of Janáček’s orchestral works with them as well as Katya Kabanova and Dvořák’s Rusalka. Included in his vast discography is an award- winning cycle of the Janáček operas with the Vienna Philharmonic in the early 1980s. For Chandos he has recorded Janáček Glagolitic Mass in the original version and Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus. As part of the Opera in English series he has recorded Osud, La traviata, Werther, Julius Caesar, Mary Stuart, Eugene Onegin, Jenůfa, The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride and The Makropulkos Case. Sir Charles has also undertaken much research into the music of the eighteenth century, particularly Handel and Mozart. He has recorded a series of Mozart and Gilbert and Sullivan operas as well as a complete series of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms Symphonies, several oratorios by Handel and symphonies by Mahler and Elgar. He is at present Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of Welsh National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Sir Charles received a CBE in 1974, was knighted in 1979, honoured with the Medal of Merit from the Czech Republic in 1996 and made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1997. In 2003 he became a Companion of Honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. 25 30/4/07 10:02:43 British philanthropist Sir Peter Moores established the Peter Moores Foundation in 1964 to realise his charitable aims and, to fulfill one of these, the Compton Verney House Trust in 1993 to create a new art gallery in the country. Through his charities he has disbursed many millions to a wide variety of arts, environmental and social causes ‘to get things done and open doors for people’. Sir Peter’s philanthropic work began with his passion for opera: in his twenties he helped a number of young artists in the crucial, early stages of their careers, several of whom – Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Colin Davis and the late Sir Geraint Evans amongst them – became world-famous. Today, the Peter Moores Foundation supports talented young singers with scholarships, has made it possible for Chandos Records to issue the world’s largest catalogue of operas recorded in English translation, and enabled Opera Rara to record rare bel canto repertoire which would otherwise remain inaccessible to the general public. In live performance, the Foundation has encouraged the creation of new work and schemes to attract new audiences, financed the publication of scores, especially for world premieres of modern operas, and enabled rarely heard works to be staged by British opera companies and festivals. Projects supported by the Foundation to help the young have ranged from a scheme to encourage young Afro-Caribbeans ‘stay at school’ for further education, to the endowment of a Faculty Directorship and Chair of Management Studies at Oxford 26 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 26-27 University (providing the lead donation which paved the way for the development of the Said Business School). In 1993 the Foundation bought Compton Verney, a Grade I Georgian mansion in Warwickshire, designed by Robert Adam, with grounds by Capability Brown. Compton Verney House Trust was set up by Sir Peter to transform the derelict mansion into a worldclass art gallery that would provide an especially welcoming environment for the ‘first-time’ gallery visitor. The gallery, which houses six permanent collections, a Learning Centre for all ages, and facilities for major visiting exhibitions, was opened in March 2004 by HRH the Prince of Wales. The Compton Verney website can be found at: www.comptonverney.org.uk Sir Peter Moores was born in Lancashire and educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was a student at the Vienna Academy of Music, where he produced the Austrian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and at the same time was an assistant producer with the Vienna State Opera, working with Viennese artists in Naples, Geneva and Rome, before returning to England in 1957 to join his father’s business, Littlewoods. He was Vice-Chairman of Littlewoods in 1976, Chairman from 1977 to 1980 and remained a director until 1993. He received the Gold Medal of the Italian Republic in 1974, an Honorary MA from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1975, and was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Northern College of Music in 1985. In 1992 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire by HM the Queen. He was appointed CBE in 1991 and received a Knighthood in 2003 for his charitable services to the arts. 27 30/4/07 10:02:46 Hänsel, Gretel und Humperdinck Es wird gelegentlich gefragt, ob Hänsel und Gretel wirklich eine Oper für Kinder oder doch eher für Erwachsene ist. Die Antwort lautet natürlich, daß sie für beide gedacht ist. Kinder erfreuen sich an den einfachen Liedern und Singespielen, an der tobenden komisch–grotesken Hexe mit ihren monströsen Eßgewohnheiten und an den übernatürlichen Erscheinungen, die in der Sequenz der Traumpantomime kulminieren, bei der in traditionellen Inszenierungen vierzehn Engel eine Treppe herabsteigen, um über die im nächtlichen Wald schlafenden Kinder zu wachen. Aber auch das Kind in jedem Erwachsenen wird von solchen Dingen beglückt sein. Erwachsene genießen zudem Humperdincks reiche Orchestrierung und feinsinnige Harmonik, seine durchwegs ausgeprägte melodische Erfindungsgabe und meisterhafte Beherrschung des Kontrapunkts sowie die erstaunliche Bandbreite von Stimmungen und Satztechniken, die sich von einer Wagnerhaften Komplexität bis zur überbordenden Begeisterung und tänzerischen Leichtigkeit eines Johann Strauß erstreckt. Doch auch Kinder werden – selbst wenn sie noch nie etwas von Wagner oder Kontrapunktik gehört haben – diese Elemente zumindest unbewußt mit Vergnügen registrieren. Hänsel und Gretel ist wahrlich eine Oper für jedermann. Schwieriger zu beantworten ist die Frage, ob dieses Märchen für Kinder geeignet ist – oder ob Märchen im allgemeinen für Kinder oder gar Erwachsene geeignet sind. In Humperdincks Oper steckt viel Komödiantisches, sie enthält auch einige tröstliche Momente, und sie hat ein offizielles Happy End; in ihrem Verlauf jedoch tauchen eine ganze Reihe von verstörenden Elementen auf. Das ist typisch für Märchen, vor allem für Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm. Die Brüder Jacob Ludwig (1785 –1863) und Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786 –1859) waren eminente Gelehrte und – noch bevor dieser Begriff geprägt wurde – Völkerkundler. Sie veröffentlichten eine Reihe von grundlegenden Schriften zu Grammatik, Wortschatz und Gebrauch der deutschen Sprache, ihr berühmtestes Werk waren jedoch die gemeinsam gesammelten und 1812 herausgegebenen Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 28 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 28-29 die auch in moderner Zeit noch unter dem Titel Grimms Märchen weithin bekannt sind und immer wieder neu aufgelegt werden. Vor ihrer Zeit war auch in anderen Sprachen nur eine kleine Zahl von dem, was wir heute als Märchen kennen, veröffentlicht worden, doch der Erfolg ihrer Bücher regte in ganz Europa zahlreiche weitere Sammlungen an und legte so den Grundstein zu einer neuen, sehr einflußreichen literarischen Gattung. Dies geschah gerade noch zur rechten Zeit, denn die tiefgreifenden Veränderungen, die sich im 19. Jahrhundert in der europäischen Gesellschaft vollzogen, führten dazu, daß viele dieser mündlich überlieferten Volksmärchen innerhalb von ein bis zwei Generationen nicht mehr tradiert wurden und schließlich in Vergessenheit geraten wären. Die Gebrüder Grimm und ihre Nachahmer retteten ein Großteil dieses Schatzes vor dem Vergessen. Hänsel und Gretel erschien in der allerersten Ausgabe von Grimms Märchen. Die ursprüngliche Geschichte ist noch grausamer als die von Humperdincks Schwester Adelheid Wette geschaffene Bearbeitung, die seine berühmteste Oper werden sollte. Hänsel und Gretels Vater und Mutter (aus der in der zweiten und späteren Ausgaben die etwas weniger verstörende Stiefmutter werden sollte) sind so arm, daß sie beschließen, die Kinder im Wald zu “verlieren”, um wenigstens für sich selbst genug Nahrung zum Überleben zu haben. Diese Idee hat ausgerechnet die Mutter, die ihren widerstrebenden Gatten überredet, sich ihr anzuschließen. Beim ersten Versuch werden die Kinder durch Hänsels klugen Einfall gerettet, glänzende Kiesel auf den Pfad zu streuen, die ihnen den Weg nach Hause weisen; beim zweiten Mal jedoch benutzt er Brotkrumen, die natürlich von den Vögeln gefressen werden. Tief im Wald verirrt, entdecken sie das Hexenhaus und seine Besitzerin und befördern sie mehr oder weniger wie in der Oper geschildert ins Jenseits (allerdings ohne irgendwelche Lebkuchenkinder zu befreien), bevor es ihnen gelingt, den Heimweg zu finden; zu Hause erfahren sie mit Erleichterung, daß ihre Mutter/Stiefmutter in der Zwischenzeit gestorben ist. Man muß kein großer Freudianer sein, um in dieser düsteren kleinen Geschichte die – nicht explizit erwähnte – Verbindung zwischen der Figur der Mutter/Stiefmutter und der Hexe zu ziehen, zumal die beiden ja auch etwa zur gleichen Zeit umkommen. Diese psychologische Verbindung wird besonders in Inszenierungen betont, in 29 30/4/07 10:02:47 denen die beiden Rollen von derselben Sängerin ausgeführt werden; dies war allerdings nicht Humperdincks Intention und entspricht auch nicht der Besetzung in der vorliegenden Einspielung. Eine andere – besonders in Deutschland häufig zu findende – Aufführungstradition besetzt die Rolle mit einem Tenor in Frauenkleidern. Beides sind interessante Varianten, die sich allerdings offensichtlich gegenseitig ausschließen. Die Fassung von Wette und Humperdinck erlaubt Gertrud nicht nur, am Leben zu bleiben, sie darf sich sogar über das Wiedersehen mit ihren Kindern freuen, und dies verleiht dem Ende des Werks eine Warmherzigkeit, die ebenso ergreifend ist wie die düstere Grimmsche Fassung und dem Bühnenwerk sicherlich größere Popularität verlieh. Humperdincks Komposition gehört einer Unterkategorie der deutschen Oper an, die als Märchenoper oder in diesem Fall als Märchenspiel bezeichnet wird; wie wir sehen werden, war Hänsel und Gretel ursprünglich keine wirkliche Oper. Die Tradition entwickelte sich infolge des von den Brüdern Grimm wiedererweckten Interesses an Märchen oder Volksmärchen und erreichte ihre Blütezeit im späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Eine Reihe von Komponisten spezialisierten sich auf diese Gattung, nicht zuletzt Humperdinck selbst, der auch für Die sieben Geislein (1895) auf die Brüder Grimm zurückgriff, sich für seine 1902 entstandene Oper Dornröschen an den älteren französischen Märchensammler Perrault wandte und für die Königskinder (letzte Fassung 1910) den Stoff eines Kunstmärchens von Ernst Rosmer verarbeitete – ein Pseudonym der Dramatikerin Else Bernstein-Porges, die das Konzentrationslager von Theresienstadt überlebte und 1949 im Alter von 82 Jahren starb. Der andere wichtige Vertreter dieser Gattung war Richard Wagners Sohn Siegfried (1869–1930), der wiederum von Humperdinck beeinflußt war. Unter seinen insgesamt achtzehn Opern finden sich mehrere Märchenopern, wobei er diese Gattung nicht zur Flucht in eine Fantasiewelt benutzte, sondern als Mittel zur Darstellung komplexer moralischer und emotionaler Sachverhalte. Neuinszenierungen von Werken wie Das Schwarzschwanenreich (1910) und Der Friedensengel (1914) haben in jüngerer Zeit gezeigt, daß er gelegentlich eine eigenständige und hörenswerte Stimme entwickelte, die aber unglücklicherweise von dem großen Lärmen seines viel berühmteren Vaters übertönt wurde. 30 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 30-31 Ursprünglich hatte Adelheid Wette ihren Bruder nur darum gebeten, für ein auf Hänsel und Gretel basierendes Schauspiel eine Reihe von Liedern zu vertonen (in einigen simpleren Passagen der Oper – vor allem in solchen, die von echten Volksliedern abgeleitet sind – sind diese Anfänge noch zu spüren). Später wurde das Stück zu einem Singspiel ausgebaut, also zu einer Oper mit gesprochenen Dialogen. Als letztes Stadium kam schließlich die Erweiterung zu einer durchkomponierten Oper mit einigen ausgedehnten orchestralen Abschnitten. Trotz dieser komplizierten Entstehungsgeschichte ist das Resultat erstaunlich geschlossen und einheitlich ausgefallen. Humperdincks Überleitungen sind so kunstvoll gearbeitet, daß keine Bruchstellen mehr erkennbar sind. Dies ist ein perfektes Beispiel für das Diktum seines Mentors Wagner, daß die Kunst des Komponierens in der Kunst der Überleitung liege. Auch Humperdincks zweitbekannteste Oper, Königskinder, durchlief interessanterweise eine ähnliche Entwicklung – das Werk war zunächst (1894) als Zwischenaktmusik für ein Schauspiel gedacht und wurde anschließend (1897) mithilfe der später von Schoenberg und Berg aufgegriffenen Technik des Sprechgesangs zu einem Melodram umgearbeitet; bei dieser Technik werden die Worte rhythmisch exakt notiert, während die Tonhöhe nur vage angedeutet wird. 1910 schließlich erhielt die Komposition ihre endgültige Form als vollgültige Oper. Heute werden die Königskinder nicht mehr oft gegeben, doch wenn das Werk gespielt wird, erweist die Musik sich als komplex und faszinierend. Der Mangel an größerem Erfolg läßt sich am ehesten damit begründen, daß der Ton dieses Werks so sehr viel düsterer ist als der von Hänsel und Gretel. Die im Titel genannten Königskinder – wobei die symbolische königliche Abstammung eines der beiden Kinder nicht ererbt ist, sondern diesem auf mysteriöse Weise innewohnt – sind am Ende tot. Vielleicht sind dem Publikum doch grundsätzlich Happy Ends lieber. In Anbetracht der hohen Qualität dieser beiden Kompositionen ist es wahrscheinlich zu unserem Nachteil, daß wir den Rest von Humperdincks Oeuvre ignorieren. Wie andere “Komponisten einer einzigen Oper”, etwa Mascagni und Leoncavallo, wurde auch Humperdinck das Opfer seines ersten Erfolges. Alle wollten ganz einfach ein weiteres Hänsel und Gretel. Auch das ist verständlich. Richard Strauss nannte die Komposition unmittelbar nach der Lektüre der Partitur ein Meisterwerk – und er war durchaus in der Lage, ein solches zu erkennen. 31 30/4/07 10:02:48 Trotzdem aber genoß Humperdinck eine lange und erfolgreiche Laufbahn als Komponist und Pädagoge. Ein kurzer Abriß seines Lebens ist hier angebracht. Engelbert Humperdinck wurde 1854 im rheinischen Siegburg geboren und nahm bereits als Siebenjähriger Klavierunterricht. Mit vierzehn sah er seine erste Oper und begann sofort, ein eigenes Werk zu komponieren. Sein Vater lehnte seine musikalischen Ambitionen zwar ab, erlaubte dem Achtzehnjährigen aber dennoch, sich am Kölner Konservatorium einzuschreiben. Dort studierte er mehrere Jahre gewissenhaft unter lokalen Berühmtheiten wie Hiller, Rheinberger und Lachner und gewann eine Reihe von Auszeichnungen. Von besonderer Bedeutung war seine Begegnung mit Richard Wagner im Jahr 1880, die zu einer Einladung nach Bayreuth führte, wo Humperdinck 1882 bei der Vorbereitung der ersten Aufführungen von Parsifal als dessen Assistent wirkte. In seiner eigenen Laufbahn verband er zunächst Arbeitsperioden als Pädagoge und als Kritiker, die Situation änderte sich jedoch grundsätzlich mit dem Erfolg seiner Märchenoper Hänsel und Gretel, die kurz vor Weihnachten 1893 auf die Bühne kam. Die Aufnahme beim Publikum war spektakulär – innerhalb eines Jahres hatten 72 Opernhäuser das Werk in ihren Spielplan aufgenommen und bis heute hat es sich als Dauerbrenner im Opernrepertoire gehalten. Nach diesem Erfolg schrieb Humperdinck weitere Opern, die entweder komisch waren oder ebenfalls der Märchentradition folgten, für die Hänsel und Gretel das wichtigste Beispiel bleibt. 1910 wurde an der New Yorker Metropolitan Opera die Premiere seiner Königskinder gegeben – diese Tatsache allein zeugt schon von dem ungeheuren Ruhm, dessen er sich zu dieser Zeit erfreute. Sein nächstes größeres Werk führte ihn nach London und entstand im Auftrag des großen Theaterdirektors Max Reinhardt. Das Mirakel basiert auf einer mittelalterlichen Legende, die von Karl Vollmoeller zu einem Drama verarbeitet wurde, und erzählt die Geschichte einer Nonne, die ihren Orden verläßt, um das Leben kennenzulernen; als sie reumütig zurückkehrt, merkt sie, daß man sie noch gar nicht vermißt hat, da die Jungfrau Maria ihren Platz eingenommen hat. Das Werk, zu dem Humperdinck die Begleitmusik schrieb, wurde 1911 in den Ausstellungshallen von Olympia uraufgeführt. Reinhardts Inszenierung, in der Nacht für Nacht Tausende von Darstellern eingesetzt wurden, wurde 1924 32 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 32-33 in New York erneut aufgeführt und zweimal verfi lmt. Zu Humperdincks weiteren Werken zählen Zwischenaktmusiken für verschiedene Schauspiele (darunter eine ebenfalls für Reinhardt geschriebene Shakespeare-Sequenz), Chorwerke, Lieder und Kammermusik. Der Komponist starb 1921 in Neustrelitz. Richard Strauss – ein großer Operndirigent und großer Opernkomponist – dirigierte die erste Aufführung von Hänsel und Gretel am Tag vor Heiligabend 1893 im Weimarer Hoftheater. Am zweiten Weihnachtstag 1894 wurde das Werk zum ersten Mal in Großbritannien aufgeführt, und zwar im Londoner Daly’s Theatre, wo es in englischer Sprache gegeben wurde. Die Inszenierung war überaus erfolgreich, und im darauffolgenden April feierte man die einhundertste Aufführung in Folge. Als das Daly’s für eine andere Inszenierung benötigt wurde, wurde Hänsel und Gretel zum Gaiety transferiert, wo das Werk zusammen mit Mozarts früher Komödie Bastien und Bastienne in Matineen gegeben wurde. Später wechselte die Oper zum Princess’s Theatre, dann zum Savoy. Dem Publikum von Covent Garden wurde sie zum ersten Mal 1896 präsentiert, wiederum in englischer Sprache. 1923 war Hänsel und Gretel die erste im Rundfunk ausgestrahlte Oper in Europa, als die englischsprachige Aufführung der British National Opera Company in Covent Garden von der BBC gesendet wurde. Die amerikanische Premiere von Hänsel und Gretel fand am 8. Oktober 1895 im New Yorker Daly’s Theatre statt; auch hier wurde das Werk in englischer Sprache gesungen. Am 25. November 1905 wurde es ins Repertoire der Metropolitan Opera aufgenommen (der Komponist war bei der ersten Aufführung anwesend) und am Weihnachtstag 1931 wurde es als erste Oper live von der Met aus gesendet, wiederum in englischer Sprache. Zu den überaus erfolgreichen Inszenierungen der jüngeren Zeit zählen die Fassung von David Pountney an der English National Opera, die am 16. Dezember 1987 am Londoner Coliseum Premiere feierte und zunächst von Mark Elder dirigiert wurde, sowie die Inszenierung von Richard Jones an der Welsh National Opera, die zuerst von Vladimir Jurowski dirigiert wurde und am 10. Dezember 1998 am New Theatre in Cardiff auf die Bühne kam. © 2007 George Hall 33 30/4/07 10:02:50 Hexe, die Kinder in ihre Hütte lockt, um sie zu Lebkuchen zu verwandeln, indem sie sie bei lebendigem Leibe bäckt! Die Eltern eilen hinaus, um die Kinder zu suchen. Handlung COMPACT DISC ONE Ouvertüre Erster Akt Im Haus des Besenmachers Die Geschwister sind allein zu Hause; Hänsel fertigt für seinen Vater Besen an, während seine Schwester Gretel Socken strickt. 2 – 4 Gretel lenkt ihren Bruder mit einem Lied ab, Hänsel stimmt mit ein und schon bald singen und tanzen die beiden, anstatt zu arbeiten. 5 – 6 Als ihre Mutter Gertrud heimkommt, regt sie sich darüber auf, wie wenig die Kinder geschafft haben, und kippt aus Versehen den Milchkrug um. Wütend trägt sie den Kindern auf, in den Wald zu gehen und wilde Erdbeeren zu sammeln, dann setzt sie sich hin und schläft vor Erschöpfung ein. 1 Zweiter Akt Im Wald 10 Vorspiel. 11 – 12 Im Wald bindet Gretel einen Blumenkranz, während Hänsel die wilden Erdbeeren sammelt und gleich aufißt. Als alle Beeren aufgegessen sind, suchen die Kinder weiter, aber es ist dunkel geworden 13 und sie merken, daß sie sich verlaufen haben. Ein dichter Nebel kommt auf und die Kinder ängstigen sich, 14 doch der Nebel klart auf und ein kleiner Sandmann taucht auf, der den Kindern Schlafsand in die Augen streut. 15 Nachdem sie ihr Nachtgebet gesprochen haben, schlafen sie beide ein. Der Nebel umhüllt sie wieder und wird zu einer Wolkentreppe, auf der vierzehn Engel herabsteigen, um die Nacht hindurch über die Kinder zu wachen. 16 Pantomime. 7 Der Vater der Kinder, Peter, kehrt in Hochstimmung nach Hause zurück. Er hat alle seine Besen verkaufen können und hat etwas zu Essen mitgebracht. Die Eltern tanzen fröhlich durchs Zimmer. 8 – 9 Als Peter erfährt, daß die Kinder nicht zu Hause sind, sondern in den Wald geschickt wurden, um Erdbeeren zu pflücken, ist er entsetzt: Im Wald lebt die COMPACT DISC TWO Dritter Akt Das Lebkuchenhaus 1 Einleitung. 2 – 34 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 34-35 3 Als die Dämmerung anbricht, kommt die Tau-Fee, um die Kinder zu wecken, indem sie Tautropfen über sie schüttelt. 4 Sie spielen, und als der Nebel sich verzieht, entdecken sie ein kleines Lebkuchenhaus, das von einem Zaun aus Lebkuchenfiguren umschlossen ist. 5 – 6 Während sie an dem Lebkuchen knabbern, schleicht sich die Hexe von hinten heran und wirft ein Seil um Hänsels Hals. 7 – 9 Er versucht sich loszureißen, doch die Hexe spricht einen Zauberspruch über die Kinder. Sie schließt Hänsel im Stall ein und schickt Gretel nach drinnen, um den Tisch zu decken. 10 Doch Gretel hat sich den Zauberspruch der Hexe gemerkt und benutzt ihn nun, um ihren Bruder zu befreien. Die Hexe trägt Gretel auf, den Ofen zu prüfen, doch Gretel gibt vor, zu dumm zu sein, und bittet die Hexe, ihr zu zeigen, was sie tun soll. Schnell schieben die Kinder sie in den Ofen und werfen die Türe zu. 11 – 12 Der Ofen explodiert und die Lebkuchenfiguren auf dem Zaun verwandeln sich in die Kinder zurück, die sie einst waren, bevor sie im Ofen gebacken wurden. 13 Hänsel und Gretels Eltern erscheinen und unter allgemeiner Heiterkeit entdecken sie, daß die Hexe nun selbst in einen Lebkuchen verwandelt worden ist. Jennifer Larmore (Hänsel) wurde in Atlanta (Georgia) geboren und studierte am Westminster Choir College in Princeton (New Jersey); danach nahm sie Privatunterricht bei John Bullock und Regina Resnik. Sie ist berühmt für ihre Koloraturrollen des Barockrepertoires und für ihren bel canto. Eine ihrer Standardrollen ist die der Rosina (Der Barbier von Sevilla), die sie bisher an der Metropolitan Opera, der Staatsoper Berlin, in Bonn, Paris, San Francisco und Buenos Aires gegeben hat. Weitere Rollen umfassen die Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena) in Nizza; Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Marseilles; Isolier (Le Comte Ory) an der Mailänder Scala; Dorabella (Così fan tutte) auf dem Salzburger Festival; Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) an der New Yorker Carnegie Hall sowie an der Opéra de Paris-Bastille und in Genf; The Italian Girl in Algiers an der Deutschen Oper Berlin, in Paris und in Wien; Ruggiero (Alcina) an der Chicago Lyric Opera; Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) am Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona; die Titelrolle in Carmen an der Washington Opera; Giulio Cesare an der Metropolitan Opera und in Madrid; die Titelrolle in Orfeo in Madrid; Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) in Japan und an der Metropolitan Opera; Hänsel Übersetzung: Stephanie Wollny 35 30/4/07 10:02:51 und Johanna (Sweeney Todd ) gesungen. Sie ist regelmäßig an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München zu Gast, wo ihre bisherigen Rollen die Nannetta unter dem Dirigat von Zubin Mehta, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zdenka (Arabella), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Ilia (Idomeneo) und Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) umfaßten. Ferner hat sie die Ilia an der Niederländischen Oper und der Opéra de Lausanne gegeben, die Titelrolle in The Cunning Little Vixen an der Scottish Opera, Pamina, Susanna, Ilia, Marzelline (Fidelio), Norina (Don Pasquale) und Hero (Beatrice and Benedict) an der Welsh National Opera sowie Romilda (Xerxes) und Ginevra (Ariodante) an der English National Opera. Auch in den USA hat Rebecca Evans große Erfolge gefeiert, so in den Rollen der Susanna und Zerlina an der Metropolitan Opera in New York, als Susanna an der Santa Fe Opera, als Pamina und Adèle (Die Fledermaus) an der Lyric Opera of Chicago sowie als Zerlina, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress)und Adina (L’elisir d’amore) an der San Francisco Opera. Zu ihren Konzertaufführungen zählen Auftritte bei den BBC Proms und auf dem Edinburgh International Festival, Galakonzerte mit Andrea Bocelli und mit Luciano Pavarotti sowie Auftritte auf dem Melbourne (Hänsel und Gretel) an der Metropolitan Opera und auf den BBC Proms; Giulietta (Hoffmanns Erzählungen) am Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, und die Titelrolle in La Cenerentola an der Metropolitan Opera. Jennifer Larmore hat bisher mehr als siebzig Tonträgeraufnahmen gemacht; ihr gebührt daher die Auszeichnung, die meisteingespielte Mezzosopranistin aller Zeiten zu sein. Ihre Diskographie umfaßt unter anderem eine CD mit Großen Opernarien für die ChandosReihe “Opera in English”, ferner Lucia di Lammermoor, Julius Caesar, Orfeo, Der Barbier von Sevilla und La Cenerentola sowie für Opera Rara L’incoronazione di Poppea, Bianca e Falliero, Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra, Francesca di Foix und Adelaide di Borgogna. Im Jahre 2002 wurde Jennifer Larmore in Anerkennung ihres Beitrags zur Welt der Musik zum Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres ernannt. Rebecca Evans (Gretel) wurde in Südwales geboren und an der Guildhall School of Music and Drama ausgebildet. Mit finanzieller Unterstützung der Peter Moores Foundation studierte sie zudem bei Ronald Schneider in Berlin. Am Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, hat sie die Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nannetta (Falstaff ) 36 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 36-37 International Festival. Recitals hat sie in der Londoner Wigmore Hall sowie auf den Festivals von Barcelona, Ravinia, Buxton, Belfast und Beaulieu-sur-Mer gegeben. Ihre Einspielungen umfassen die Marzellina (Fidelio), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) und Ilia (Idomeneo) für die Chandos-Reihe “Opera in English”, die Nannetta (Falstaff ) unter Sir John Eliot Gardiner, eine Reihe von Aufnahmen mit Werken von Gilbert und Sullivan unter Sir Charles Mackerras sowie eine Soloaufnahme mit italienischen Liedern. Schließlich hat sie noch die Rolle der Belinda in dem ebenfalls bei Chandos erschienenen Film Dido und Aeneas gesungen, außerdem moderierte sie ihre eigene BBC Fernsehserie, “A Touch of Classics”, mit dem BBC National Orchestra of Wales. La Fenice, in Barcelona, Buenos Aires und Santiago mitgewirkt. Nach Covent Garden ist Rosalind Plowright für Sweeney Todd zurückgekehrt, und ihr Debüt am Maggio Musicale in Florenz feierte sie mit zwei Opern von Luigi Dallapiccola. Zu ihren Einspielungen zählen Queen Elizabeth I (Mary Stuart), Desdemona (Otello) und Amneris (Aida) für die Chandos-Reihe “Opera in English”, ferner La forza del destino zusammen mit José Carreras, Il trovatore mit Placido Domingo, Mendelssohns Elias (für Chandos), La Vestale, Hoffmanns Erzählungen und Mahlers Zweite Sinfonie. Robert Hayward (der Vater) studierte an der Guildhall School of Music and Drama sowie am National Opera Studio und feierte sein professionelles Operndebüt mit der Titelrolle in Don Giovanni in einer Produktion der Glyndebourne Touring Opera. Auftritte haben ihn mit dem Royal Opera House, der English National Opera, der Welsh National Opera, der Opera North, der Scottish Opera, der Glyndebourne Festival und Touring Opera, der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München, der Houston Grand Opera, der Neuen Israelischen Oper und der Minnesota Opera verbunden, wobei sein ausgedehntes Repertoire Wotan und Rosalind Plowright (die Mutter) ist in fast jedem größeren Opernhaus der Welt aufgetreten; sie hat in Neuinszenierungen in Covent Garden, an der English National Opera, in Paris, Hamburg, Frankfurt, München und Berlin, an der Wiener Staatsoper, in Athen, an der Metropolitan Opera, in San Francisco, Dallas, Houston und San Diego, an der Carnegie Hall, an der Mailänder Scala, in Verona und Florenz, an 37 30/4/07 10:02:53 den Wanderer im Ring, Amfortas (Parsifal), Jokanaan (Salome), Figaro und Graf Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), die Titelrollen in Der fliegende Holländer, Mazeppa, Saul, Eugen Onegin und Don Giovanni, Iago (Otello), Ford (Falstaff ), Scarpia (Tosca), Marcello (La bohème), Escamillo (Carmen), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) und Wotan/Wanderer im RingZyklus der English National Opera umfaßt. Konzertengagements hatte er mit Belshazzar’s Feast, Tippetts The Mask of Time, Mendelssohns Elias, Beethovens Neunter Sinfonie und Haydns Schöpfung, The Dream of Gerontius, Mozarts Requiem sowie Mahlers Das klagende Lied und Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Zu seinen Einspielungen zählt die Rolle des Dr. Schön (Lulu) im Rahmen der Chandos-Reihe “Opera in English” sowie ebenfalls für Chandos The Pilgrim’s Progress. an der Los Angeles Opera und der Pariser Opéra, Klytemnestra (Elektra) an der San Francisco Opera, die Principessa (Suor Angelica) mit dem Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra unter Chailly, Dialogues des Carmélites in Amsterdam, die Kostelnička ( Jenůfa) unter Ozawa in Japan und die Kabanicka (Katya Kabanova) auf dem Salzburger Festival. An der Royal Opera, Covent Garden, hat sie Fricka und Waltraute sowie Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Klytemnestra und Mrs Grose (The Turn of the Screw) gesungen, an der Mailänder Scala, Herodias (Salome) und Cassandre (Les Troyens). Zu ihren Rollen an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München zählen Herodias, Klytemnestra, Ulrica, Mistress Quickly (Falstaff ) und Ortrud (Lohengrin), zu denen an der Wiener Staatsoper Klytemnestra, Fricka und Mistress Quickly. Ihre berühmteste Rolle ist die der Amme in Die Frau ohne Schatten, die sie in Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, München, Paris, Wien und Berlin sowie an der Metropolitan Opera gegeben hat. Jane Henschels Einspielungen umfassen Krasas Verlobung im Traum, The Rake’s Progress, Albéniz’ Merlin, Brittens The Turn of the Screw und Mahlers Achte Sinfonie. Jane Henschel (die Hexe) wurde im amerikanischen Bundesstaat Wisconsin geboren, studierte an der University of California und zog anschließend nach Deutschland. Zu ihren Rollen zählen Baba der Türke (The Rake’s Progress) auf den Festivals von Glyndebourne, Saito Kinen und Salzburg, Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) 38 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 38-39 Sarah Tynan (Die Tau-Fee) wurde in London geboren und studierte am Royal Northern College of Music und an der Royal Academy of Music (bei Penelope Mackay). An der Royal Academy wurde ihr die Auszeichnung “Queen’s Commendation for Excellence” zuteil. Seit sie zum Ensemble der English National Opera gehört, hat sie die Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Iphis ( Jephtha), Atalanta (Xerxes), Yum-Yum (Der Mikado) und Schwester Constance (The Carmelites) gegeben. Weitere Opernengagements umfassen die Tytania an La Monnaie in Brüssel, Bella (The Midsummer Marriage) unter der Leitung von Richard Hickox auf dem St. Endellion Festival, Pretty Polly in Birtwistles Punch and Judy am Teatro Nacional San João in Porto, die Gouvernante in Brittens The Turn of the Screw für eine Rußland-Tournee des British Council, Elsie Maynard (The Yeomen of the Guard) und Gianetta (The Gondoliers) an der Phoenix Opera. Für die Chandos-Reihe “Opera in English” hat Sarah Tynan die Rollen der Schwester Constance (The Carmelites) und der Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) aufgenommen. Diana Montague (der Sandman) wurde in Winchester geboren und studierte am Royal Northern College of Music. Seit ihrem Debüt als Zerlina mit der Glyndebourne Touring Opera ist sie am Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, an der Metropolitan Opera in New York, dem Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brüssel, der Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, dem Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires sowie auf dem Bayreuther und dem Salzburger Festival aufgetreten. Ihr Repertoire umfaßt die großen Mezzosopran-Rollen in den Opern von Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini und Berlioz; zu ihren bisherigen Engagements zählen Benvenuto Cellini an der Oper von Rom; Iphigénie en Tauride in Buenos Aires, Madrid und an der Welsh National Opera; Albert Herring, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) und Andromaca in Rossinis Ermione in Glyndebourne; Le Comte Ory in Lausanne, Rom und Glyndebourne; Proserpina in Monteverdis Orfeo in Amsterdam; Ariadne auf Naxos in Lissabon; Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust) in Wien und Genf; Minerva (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) in Amsterdam and Sydney; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg am Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Junon in Rameaus Platée 39 30/4/07 10:02:54 mit der Royal Opera auf dem Edinburgh Festival und in London, sowie Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) an der English National Opera, in Bilbao und am Teatro Real in Madrid. Zu Diana Montagues zahlreichen Einspielungen zählen Monteverdis Orfeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Iphigénie en Tauride; für Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata und Il crociato in Egitto sowie im Rahmen der Chandos-Reihe “Opera in English” Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Idamante (Idomeneo), Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (Highlights) und Faust sowie schließlich zwei Recital-CDs mit Großen Opernarien. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in der Royal Albert Hall, Mahlers Dritte Sinfonie mit dem London Symphony Orchestra im Barbican, Carmina Burana mit dem Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in der Royal Festival Hall sowie mit dem Bach Choir ebenfalls in der Royal Festival Hall und schließlich drei Blue Peter Proms. Zu der umfassenden Diskographie des New London Children’s Choir zählen Turandot und Carmen im Rahmen der bei Chandos erschienenen Reihe “Opera in English”, Tchaikowskis Nußknacker, Schostakovichs Das Lied von den Wäldern, Prokofiews Ivan der Schreckliche und Brittens St Nicolas. Das Philharmonia Orchestra, eines der großen Orchester der Welt, steht nun bereits im zehnten Jahr unter der Leitung seines berühmten deutschen Chefdirigenten Christoph von Dohnányi. Er setzt eine Tradition fort, die mit Otto Klemperer begann und über Lorin Maazel (Erster Gastdirigent), Riccardo Muti (Chefdirigent und Musikalischer Leiter), Giuseppe Sinopoli (Musikalischer Leiter) bis zu Kurt Sanderling (Emeritierter Dirigent), Vladimir Ashkenazy (Ehrendirigent) und Sir Charles Mackerras (Hauptgastdirigent) führt, aber auch die Der New London Children’s Choir wurde 1991 von seinem Musikdirektor Ronald Corp gegründet mit dem Ziel, Kinder mit den Freuden und Anforderungen des Singens und Musizierens aller Arten von Musik vertraut zu machen. Der Chor hat inzwischen Dutzende von Einspielungen und Sendungen gemacht und war auf zahlreichen großen Festivals zu Gast. Zu den Konzert-Highlights des Chors zählen Mahlers Achte Sinfonie mit dem 40 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 40-41 Zusammenarbeit mit Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Guido Cantelli, Herbert von Karajan und Carlo Maria Giulini einbezog. Das Orchester verpflichtet weiterhin Gastdirigenten und Solisten von Weltrang, während einige der größten europäischen Nachwuchstalente in seine Reihen aufgenommen werden. Das Philharmonia Orchestra ist in der Royal Festival Hall ansässig und nimmt eine zentrale Position im Musikleben Großbritanniens ein, nicht nur durch seine Londoner Konzerte, sondern auch durch feste Kontakte mit Aufführungsstätten in anderen Teilen des Landes, die eine ideale Gelegenheit für die Erweiterung seines dynamischen und bevölkerungsnahen musikpädagogischen Programms bieten. Das Orchester ist mit zahlreichen Preisen ausgezeichnet worden und hat beispiellose kritische Unterstützung für seine innovative Programmpolitik gewonnen, die in ihrem Kern der Bestellung und Darbietung neuer Musik von führenden Komponisten unserer Zeit verpflichtet ist. Die Konzerte des Orchesters werden immer häufiger von BBC Radio 3 übertragen, nicht zuletzt im Rahmen der jährlichen BBC Proms. Mit über 1000 Schallplattenaufnahmen verfügt das Philharmonia Orchestra über die größte Orchesterdiskographie der Welt, die auch Fernseh- und Filmmusik beinhaltet, und genießt weltweit höchstes Ansehen. Das Orchester hat für Opera Rara mehrere Recitals sowie dreizehn komplette Opern eingespielt und in der Reihe “Opera in English” für Chandos mit Unterstützung durch die Peter Moores Foundation The Marriage of Figaro, The Thieving Magpie, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, Lucia of Lammermoor, Faust, Carmen, Aida, La Bohème, Madam Butterfly, Turandot, die preisgekrönte Tosca und Opernarien in Solorecitals mit Bruce Ford, Diana Montague, Dennis O’Neill, Alastair Miles, Yvonne Kenny und John Tomlinson aufgenommen. Das Philharmonia Orchestra untermauert seinen internationalen Rang durch regelmäßige Tourneen und Gastauftritte an berühmten Häusern wie dem Châtelet Théâtre Musical in Paris, dem Megaron in Athen und dem Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Sir Charles Mackerras studierte am Konservatorium in Sydney und kam 1947 nach England. Von der Kulturorganisation British Council erhielt er ein Stipendium zur Erweiterung seines Studiums an der Musikakademie Prag. In jenem Jahr begann 41 30/4/07 10:02:56 seine Leidenschaft für die Musik Janáčeks, als er Katja Kabanowa unter der Leitung des großen Václav Talich hörte. Als Assistant Conductor am Londoner Opernhaus Sadler’s Wells dirigierte er 1951 die erste Aufführung von Katja Kabanowa in der englischsprachigen Welt und brachte später auch Die Sache Makropulos und Aus einem Totenhaus nach Sadler’s Wells. Hocherfolgreiche Inszenierungen von Janáčeks Opern sowie vertrautere Werke aus dem Standardrepertoire leitete er auch während seiner Zeit als Musikdirektor der English National Opera (1970 –77) und der Welsh National Opera (1987–1992). In ganz Europa, den USA und Australien gilt er als Wegbereiter der Musik Janáčeks. Jenůfa ist ihm besonders ans Herz gewachsen. Name verbindet sich seit langem mit der Tschechischen Philharmonie, mit der er die meisten Orchesterwerke Janáčeks, Katja Kabanowa und Dvořáks Rusalka aufgenommen hat. Seine umfangreiche Diskographie enthält einen preisgekrönten Zyklus von Janáček-Opern mit den Wiener Philharmonikern aus den frühen achtziger Jahren. Für Chandos hat er Janáčeks Glagolitische Messe in der Originalfassung, Kodálys Psalmus Hungaricus und Dvořáks Cellokonzert eingespielt. Für die ChandosSerie “Opera in English” hat er Osud, La traviata, Werther, Julius Caesar, Mary Stuart, Eugene Onegin, Jenůfa, The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride und The Makropulos Case aufgenommen. Sir Charles hat auch die Musik des 18. Jahrhunderts erforscht, insbesondere Händel und Mozart. Er hat eine Reihe von Mozart-Opern und Gilbert-und-SullivanOperetten sowie Gesamtaufnahmen der Sinfonien von Mozart, Beethoven und Brahms, mehrere Oratorien von Händel sowie Sinfonien von Mahler und Elgar vorgelegt. Derzeit ist er Hauptgastdirigent des Philharmonia Orchestra, Conductor Laureate des Scottish Chamber Orchestra sowie Conductor Emeritus der Welsh National Opera und der San Francisco Opera. Sir Charles wurde 1974 mit dem britischen Verdienstorden CBE ausgezeichnet, 1979 zum Ritter geschlagen, 1996 mit der Ehrenmedaille der Tschechischen Republik gewürdigt und 1997 zum Companion of the Order of Australia ernannt. 2003 erhob ihn Königin Elizabeth II. zum Companion of Honour. On session: Jane Henschel 42 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 42-43 30/4/07 10:02:57 Hänsel, Gretel et Humperdinck On demande parfois si Hänsel und Gretel est vraiment un opéra destiné aux enfants ou aux adultes. La réponse, bien entendu, est qu’il s’adresse aux deux. Les enfants aimeront la simplicité des chansons et des jeux chantés, le comique grotesque de la sorcière déchaînée aux habitudes alimentaires monstrueuses, et les apparitions surnaturelles culminant dans la séquence de la Pantomime de rêve qui, dans les productions traditionnelles, met en scène quatorze anges descendant un escalier pour venir veiller sur le sommeil des enfants dans la forêt nocturne. Mais l’enfant qui est en nous tous aimera également ces éléments. En outre, les adultes apprécieront probablement la riche orchestration et les subtiles harmonies de Humperdinck, la force constante de son invention mélodique et de son contrepoint magistral, ainsi que son extraordinaire variété d’humeurs et de textures, allant d’une complexité quasi wagnérienne jusqu’à une exubérance et un élan dansant à la Johann Strauss. Mais les enfants – même s’ils n’ont jamais entendu du Wagner ou du contrepoint – enregistreront au moins inconsciemment ces aspects avec plaisir eux aussi. Hänsel und Gretel est un opéra pour tous. Une question à laquelle il est plus difficile de répondre est de savoir si ce conte de fées en particulier, ou les contes de fées en général, conviennent aux enfants – ou même aux adultes. L’opéra de Humperdinck possède de nombreux passages de comédie, plusieurs moments réconfortants et une fin heureuse officielle, mais on rencontre également des aspects inquiétants tout au long de son déroulement. C’est généralement la règle dans les contes de fées – en particulier ceux des Grimm. Les frères Jacob Ludwig (1785 –1863) et Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786 –1859) étaient deux universitaires allemands éminents et, avant que le terme ne fût inventé, folkloristes. Ils publièrent d’importants travaux consacrés à la grammaire, au vocabulaire et à l’usage de la langue allemande, mais leur ouvrage le plus célèbre demeure les Kinder- und Hausmärchen, réunis et édités conjointement en 1812. Ils ont été souvent réimprimés jusqu’à nous sous le titre Les Contes de Grimm. Avant eux, seul un petit nombre de ce que nous connaissons 44 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 44-45 aujourd’hui comme étant des contes de fées avait été publié quelle que soit la langue, mais le succès de leur version encouragea la publication de nombreuses autres collections à travers toute l’Europe, donnant naissance à un nouveau genre littéraire très influent. Ils arrivèrent également au bon moment car les profonds changements qui allaient bouleverser la société européenne pendant le dix-neuvième siècle signifiaient que beaucoup de ces contes folkloriques transmis oralement allaient, en une ou deux générations, devenir rares et finalement disparaître. Les frères Grimm et leurs successeurs sauvèrent de l’oubli définitif une grande partie de ces récits. Hänsel und Gretel parut dans la toute première édition de leurs contes. C’est une histoire encore plus cruelle que l’adaptation réalisée par Adelheid Wette, la sœur de Humperdinck, et qui allait s’imposer comme son opéra le plus célèbre. Les parents de Hänsel et Gretel (la mère deviendra le personnage un peu moins troublant de la belle-mère à partir de la deuxième édition) sont si pauvres qu’ils décident de “perdre” leurs enfants dans la forêt afin d’avoir assez à manger pour eux-mêmes. C’est la mère qui suggère cette idée et persuade son époux réticent à l’exécuter. L’ingéniosité de Hänsel le sauve ainsi que sa sœur la première fois (il laisse tomber derrière lui des cailloux brillants, ce qui leur permet de revenir par le même chemin), mais la seconde fois il utilise des miettes de pain que les oiseaux mangent bien entendu. Complètement perdus, ils découvrent la chaumière de la sorcière et se débarrassent d’elle plus ou moins comme dans l’opéra (mais sans libérer aucun enfant en pain d’épice); ensuite, ils parviennent à retrouver le chemin de leur maison où ils découvrent, sans aucun doute avec soulagement, que leur mère/belle-mère est morte entre temps. Il n’est pas nécessaire d’être un disciple de Freud pour déceler dans cette sombre petite histoire le lien non exprimé entre la figure de la mère/belle-mère et celle de la sorcière, en particulier si l’on songe qu’elles meurent à peu près au même moment. Ce rapport psychologique est souligné dans les représentations de l’opéra quand les deux rôles sont chantés par la même interprète – cependant, ce n’était pas l’intention de Humperdinck et cette idée n’est pas reprise dans le présent enregistrement. Une autre tradition, particulièrement commune en Allemagne, consiste à confier le rôle de la sorcière à un ténor en travesti. Ce sont là deux idées intéressantes, mais il est clair qu’elles s’excluent l’une l’autre. La version de 45 30/4/07 10:03:00 Wette/Humperdinck non seulement permet à Gertrude de vivre mais également de se réjouir du retour de ses enfants, ce qui donne à la fin de l’ouvrage un sentiment chaleureux aussi profond en son genre que la sombre version des Grimm, et assure plus sûrement le succès sur scène. L’ouvrage de Humperdinck appartient à une sous-catégorie d’opéra allemand intitulée Märchenoper, ou dans le cas présent Märchenspiel (littéralement “pièce de conte de fées”: comme nous allons le voir, Hänsel und Gretel n’était pas du tout un opéra à l’origine). Cette tradition se développa à la suite du renouveau d’intérêt pour le conte folklorique (ou conte de fées) provoqué par les frères Grimm, et parvint à son plein épanouissement à la fin du dix-neuvième et au début du vingtième siècle. Plusieurs compositeurs se spécialisèrent dans ce genre, notamment Humperdinck, qui s’inspira également des frères Grimm pour Die sieben Geislein (Les Sept Jeunes Enfants) en 1895, mais aussi du collecteur français de contes de fées du dix-septième siècle Charles Perrault pour Dornröschen (La Belle au bois dormant) en 1902, et d’un conte de fées inventé par Ernst Rosmer (pseudonyme de la dramaturge Else Bernstein-Porges qui survécut au camp de concentration de Terezin, et mourut en 1949 à l’âge de quatre-vingt-deux ans) pour Königskinder (version finale en 1910). L’autre représentant important fut le fils de Richard Wagner, Siegfried (1869–1930), qui subit l’influence de Humperdinck. Plusieurs de ses dix-huit opéras sont des Märchenopern, un genre qu’il explora non pas pour sa fantaisie d’évasion mais comme un moyen de faire face à des difficultés morales et émotionnelles. Les récentes reprises de pièces telles que Schwarzschwanenreich (Le Royaume du cygne noir, 1910) et Der Friedensengel (L’Ange de la paix, 1914) montrent qu’il eut parfois un style personnel et digne d’intérêt, mais malheureusement noyé par le bruit phénoménal créé par son père au génie bien supérieur. À l’origine, Adelheid Wette demanda à son frère d’écrire seulement des chansons pour une pièce s’inspirant de Hänsel und Gretel (certains des passages les plus simples de l’opéra, incluant ceux qui utilisent de véritables chansons folkloriques, reflètent ces débuts). Par la suite, la pièce devint un Singspiel, ou opéra avec dialogues. Finalement, il fut transformé en un opéra au développement continu, incluant plusieurs sections orchestrales importantes. Le miracle est que le résultat est aussi cohérent. 46 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 46-47 Les transitions de Humperdinck sont si habiles qu’il est impossible de déceler les jointures. C’est un exemple illustrant parfaitement l’affirmation de son mentor Wagner pour qui l’art de la composition est l’art de la transition. Fait intéressant, le deuxième opéra de Humperdinck le plus connu, Königskinder (Enfants royaux), eut une semblable genèse puisqu’il fut conçu au départ comme musique de scène pour une pièce en 1894. Elle fut ensuite transformée (en 1897) en mélodrame (c’est-à-dire des paroles sur de la musique), utilisant la technique du Sprechgesang – reprise plus tard par Schoenberg et Berg, dans laquelle les paroles sont notées d’une manière exacte du point de vue rythmique, mais beaucoup moins précise quant aux hauteurs sonores – avant de parvenir à sa forme définitive d’opéra complet en 1910. Königskinder n’est pas souvent représenté, mais quand c’est le cas, la partition se montre riche et fascinante. La raison de son manque de succès est très probablement due à son caractère beaucoup plus sombre que celui de Hänsel und Gretel. Les “enfants royaux” de son titre – leur noblesse symbolique n’est pas héritée dans le cas de l’un des deux, mais est innée d’une manière assez mystérieuse – meurent à la fin. Après tout, le public préfère peut-être les fins heureuses. Au regard de la qualité de ces deux ouvrages, il est probable que notre méconnaissance du reste de la production de Humperdinck est une perte pour nous. À l’instar d’autres “compositeurs d’un opéra” tels que Mascagni et Leoncavallo, Humperdinck fut victime de son premier succès. Tout le monde voulait simplement un autre Hänsel und Gretel. Ceci est également compréhensible. Richard Strauss qualifia la partition de chef-d’œuvre aussitôt après l’avoir lue; et il savait reconnaître une bonne chose quand il en voyait une. Cependant, Humperdinck connut une carrière longue et distinguée de compositeur et de professeur. Un bref résumé semble approprié. Engelbert Humperdinck naquit à Siegburg près de Cologne en 1854 et commença l’étude du piano à l’âge de sept ans; après avoir vu pour la première fois un opéra à l’âge de quatorze ans, il se mit à composer ses propres ouvrages. Bien que son père se soit opposé à ses ambitions musicales, il l’autorisa à entrer au Conservatoire de Cologne à l’âge de dix-huit ans. Il y étudia consciencieusement plusieurs années avec des maîtres mineurs tels que Hiller, Rheinberger, Lachner, et remporta plusieurs prix. Beaucoup plus importante fut sa rencontre avec Wagner en 1880, suivie d’une invitation à venir à Bayreuth où Humperdinck 47 30/4/07 10:03:01 devint l’assistant musical de Wagner pendant la préparation des premières représentations de Parsifal en 1882. Sa carrière compta des périodes où il fut professeur et critique musical, mais sa fortune changea avec le succès de son opéra de conte de fées, Hänsel und Gretel, qui fut donné sur scène juste avant Noël en 1893. Son accueil fut spectaculaire – en l’espace d’un an, au moins soixante-douze théâtres lyriques le reprirent – et il devint un ouvrage permanent du répertoire lyrique. Par la suite, Humperdinck continua à composer des opéras, le plus souvent dans le style comique ou dans la tradition du conte de fées dont Hänsel und Gretel reste l’exemple le plus significatif. En 1910, le Metropolitan Opera de New York donna la première de Königskinder – un fait qui en soi démontre son immense réputation internationale à cette époque. Son œuvre majeure suivante le conduisit à Londres, et fut composée à la demande du grand metteur en scène de théâtre Max Reinhardt. S’inspirant d’une légende médiévale transformée en drame par Karl Vollmöller, le spectaculaire The Miracle, créé dans la salle d’exposition à Olympia en 1911, et pour lequel Humperdinck réalisa une partition d’accompagnement, raconte l’histoire d’une religieuse qui abandonne son ordre pour faire l’expérience de la vie; mais quand elle revient pénitente, elle découvre que personne n’a regretté son absence car sa place a été prise par la Vierge Marie. La production de Reinhardt, qui nécessitait des milliers d’interprètes chaque soir, fut reprise à New York en 1924 et fut filmée deux fois. Les autres œuvres du compositeur comptent des musiques de scène pour le théâtre (en particulier pour une série de pièces de Shakespeare de nouveau écrites pour Reinhardt), des pages chorales, des chansons et des pièces de musique de chambre. Humperdinck mourut à Neustrelitz près de Berlin en 1921. C’est Richard Strauss – un grand chef d’orchestre d’opéra ainsi qu’un grand compositeur d’opéra – qui dirigea la création de Hänsel und Gretel au Théâtre de la Cour de Weimar le 24 décembre 1893. Le 26 décembre 1894, l’ouvrage fut donné pour la première fois en Grande-Bretagne, en anglais, au Daly’s Theatre de Londres. Il resta à l’affiche jusqu’à l’année suivante où il parvint à sa centième représentation au mois d’avril. Quand le Daly’s Theatre fut sollicité pour un autre spectacle, Hänsel und Gretel passa au Gaity Theatre où il fut donné en matinée avec 48 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 48-49 Bastien und Bastienne de Mozart. Plus tard, il fut transféré au Princess’s Theatre puis au Savoy Theatre. Le public de Covent Garden l’entendit pour la première fois en 1896, de nouveau chanté en anglais. En 1923, il devint le premier opéra à être radiodiffusé en Europe quand la représentation donnée en anglais par la British National Opera Company fut retransmise par la BBC. Hänsel und Gretel fut créé (de nouveau en anglais) aux États-Unis au Daly’s Theater de New York le 9 octobre 1895. Il entra au répertoire du Metropolitan Opera le 25 novembre 1905 (le compositeur assista à la première représentation), et le jour de Noël 1931, il fut le premier opéra à être radiodiffusé en direct du Metropolitan Opera, toujours en anglais. Les récentes productions très acclamées au Royaume-Uni incluent celle de David Pountney à l’English National Opera, dont la première eu lieu au Coliseum de Londres le 16 décembre 1987 sous la direction de Mark Elder, et celle mise en scène par Richard Jones au Welsh National Opera, dirigée par Vladimir Jurowski, dont la première eut lieu le 10 décembre au New Theatre de Cardiff. Argument COMPACT DISC ONE Ouverture Acte I Dans la maison du fabricant de balais Laissés seuls à la maison, Hänsel fabrique des balais pour son père tandis que sa sœur Gretel tricote des bas. 2 – 4 Gretel distrait son frère en chantant une chanson; Hänsel se joint à elle, et bientôt ils chantent et dansent ensemble. 5 – 6 Quand leur mère Gertrude revient, elle se met en colère à cause du peu de travail réalisé par les enfants et renverse par accident une cruche de lait. Furieuse, elle envoie les enfants dans la forêt pour aller cueillir des fraises sauvages, puis elle s’assoit et s’endort, épuisée. 1 Le père des enfants, Peter, rentre de très bonne humeur car il a vendu tous ses balais et rapporte de la nourriture. Les parents dansent joyeusement autour de la pièce. 8 – 9 Peter est horrifié quand il apprend que les enfants sont sortis pour aller chercher des fraises dans la forêt: car c’est le domaine de la sorcière qui attire les enfants dans sa chaumière pour les cuire vivants et les transformer en pains 7 © 2007 George Hall 49 30/4/07 10:03:02 chaumière en pain d’épice entourée d’une clôture faite de figures en pain d’épice. 5 – 6 Pendant qu’ils mangent des morceaux de pain d’épice, la sorcière s’approche d’eux sans bruit et lance une corde autour du cou de Hänsel. 7 – 9 Il tente de s’en dégager, mais la sorcière lui jette un sort ainsi qu’à sa sœur. Elle enferme Hänsel dans l’écurie et envoie Gretel à l’intérieur de la chaumière pour dresser la table. 10 Mais Gretel se rappelle la formule magique de la sorcière, et l’utilise pour délivrer Hänsel. d’épice! Ils se précipitent dehors à la recherche de Hänsel et Gretel. Acte II Dans la forêt 10 Prélude. 11 – 12 Dans la forêt Gretel tresse une guirlande de fleurs tandis que Hänsel cueille des fraises sauvages et les mange. Quand toutes les fraises ont été mangées, les enfants se mettent à en chercher d’autres, mais la nuit tombe 13 et ils comprennent qu’ils se sont perdus. Une brume épaisse se lève et ils sont effrayés. 14 Cependant, la brume s’atténue et laisse apparaître un petit marchand de sable qui verse de la poussière de sommeil sur les yeux des enfants. 15 Après avoir dit leur prière, ils s’endorment ensemble. La brume les enveloppe et se transforme en un escalier de nuages, et quatorze anges descendent pour protéger les enfants pendant la nuit. 16 Pantomime. La sorcière demande à Gretel de vérifier si le four est allumé, mais Gretel feint la stupidité et lui demande de lui montrer ce qu’il faut faire. Les enfants poussent alors la sorcière dans le four et claquent la porte. 11 – 12 Le four explose et les figures en pain d’épice de la clôture redeviennent les enfants qui avaient été cuits. 13 Les parents de Hänsel et Gretel arrivent. Au milieu de la joie générale, tous découvrent que la sorcière a été transformée en un gâteau en pain d’épice. COMPACT DISC TWO Acte III La chaumière en pain d’épice 1 Introduction. 2 – 3 Au lever du jour, la fée Rosée réveille les enfants en répandant sur eux quelques gouttes de rosée. 4 Pendant qu’ils jouent la brume se lève et ils aperçoivent une Traduction: Francis Marchal Née à Atlanta, Jennifer Larmore (Hänsel) a étudié au Westminster Choir College de Princeton dans le New Jersey puis en privé avec 50 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 50-51 John Bullock et Regina Resnik. Elle est célèbre pour ses interprétations des rôles coloratures du répertoire baroque et bel canto. Elle a été particulièrement associée au rôle de Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) qu’elle a interprété au Metropolitan Opera de New York, au Staatsoper de Berlin, à Bonn, Paris, San Francisco et Buenos Aires. Elle a également incarné les rôles de Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena) à Nice; Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) à Marseille; Isolier (Le Comte Ory) à La Scala de Milan; Dorabella (Così fan tutte) au Festival de Salzbourg; Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) au Carnegie Hall de New York, à l’Opéra de Paris-Bastille et à Genève; L’Italiana in Algeri au Deutsche Oper de Berlin, à Paris et à Vienne; Ruggiero (Alcina) au Chicago Lyric Opera; Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) au Gran Teatro del Liceu de Barcelone; le rôle titre dans Carmen à l’Opéra de Washington; Giulio Cesare au Metropolitan Opera et à Madrid; le rôle titre dans Orfeo à Madrid; Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) au Japon et au Metropolitan Opera, Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) au Metropolitan Opera et aux BBC Proms de Londres; Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) au Royal Opera de Covent Garden, et le rôle titre dans La Cenerentola au Metropolitan Opera. Jennifer Larmore a réalisé à ce jour plus de soixante-dix disques, un fait qui lui vaut la distinction d’être la mezzo-soprano la plus enregistrée de tous les temps. Ces enregistrement incluent un disque de Great Operatic Arias dans la série “Opera in English” de Chandos, ainsi que Lucia di Lammermoor, Julius Caesar, Orfeo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, et pour Opera Rara, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Bianca e Falliero, Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra, Francesca di Foix et Adelaide di Borgogna. En 2002, Jennifer Larmore a été nommée Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres en reconnaissance de sa contribution au monde de la musique. Née au Pays de Galles, Rebecca Evans (Gretel) a fait ses études musicales à la Guildhall School of Music and Drama de Londres, et a bénéficié du soutien de la Peter Moores Foundation afin de parfaire sa formation avec Ronald Schneider à Berlin. Au Royal Opera de Covent Garden, elle a chanté les rôles de Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nannetta (Falstaff ) et Johanna (Sweeney Todd ). Elle se produit régulièrement au Bayerische Staatsoper de Munich où elle a interprété les rôles de Nannetta sous la direction de Zubin Mehta, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zdenka (Arabella), 51 30/4/07 10:03:03 Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Ilia (Idomeneo) et Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro). Elle a incarné le rôle d’Ilia à l’Opéra de Hollande et à l’Opéra de Lausanne; le rôle titre dans Le Petit Renard rusé au Scottish Opera; Pamina, Susanna, Ilia, Marzelline (Fidelio), Norina (Don Pasquale) et Hero (Béatrice et Bénédict) au Welsh National Opera, Romilda (Xerxes) et Ginevra (Ariodante) à l’English National Opera. Elle a également développé une importante carrière lyrique aux États-Unis où elle a chanté Susanna et Zerlina au Metropolitan Opera de New York; Susanna à l’Opéra de Santa Fe; Pamina et Adèle (Die Fledermaus) au Lyric Opera de Chicago; Zerlina, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) et Adina (L’elisir d’amore) à l’Opéra de San Francisco. Rebecca Evans s’est produite en concert aux BBC Proms de Londres, dans les festivals internationaux d’Édimbourg et de Melbourne, et a participé à des concerts de gala avec Andrea Bocelli et Luciano Pavarotti. En récital, elle a chanté au Wigmore Hall de Londres, et dans les festivals de Barcelone, Ravinia, Buxton, Belfast et Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Ses enregistrements incluent Marzellina (Fidelio), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) et Ilia (Idomeneo) pour la série “Opera in English” de Chandos, ainsi que Nannetta (Falstaff ) sous la direction de Sir John Eliot Gardiner, plusieurs enregistrement d’opéras de Gilbert et Sullivan sous la direction de Sir Charles Mackerras, et un disque de mélodies italiennes. Elle a interprété le rôle de Belinda dans le film Dido and Aeneas (également publié par Chandos), et a animé sa propre série “A Touch of Classics” pour la BBC Television avec le BBC National Orchestra du Pays de Galles. Rosalind Plowright (la Mère) s’est produite dans presque tous les grands théâtres lyriques du monde incluant de nouvelles productions à Covent Garden, à l’English National Opera, à Paris, Hambourg, Frankfort, Munich, Berlin, au Staatsoper de Vienne, à Athènes, au Metropolitan Opera et au Carnegie Hall de New York, à San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, La Scala de Milan, Vérone, Florence, La Fenice de Venise, Barcelone, Buenos Aires et Santiago. Rosalind Plowright est revenue à Covent Garden pour Sweeney Todd et a fait ses débuts au Maggio Musicale de Florence dans deux opéras de Luigi Dallapiccola. Ses enregistrements incluent la reine Élisabeth premier (Maria Stuarda), Desdemona (Otello) et Amneris (Aida) pour la série “Opera in 52 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 52-53 English” de Chandos, ainsi que La forza del destino avec José Carreras, Il trovatore avec Placido Domingo, Elijah de Mendelssohn (pour Chandos), La Vestale, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, et la Deuxième Symphonie de Mahler. (Pelléas et Mélisande) et Wotan/le Voyageur errant dans le cycle du Ring produit à l’English National Opera de Londres. En concert, Robert Hayward a chanté dans Belshazzar’s Feast de Walton, The Mask of Time de Tippett, Elijah de Mendelssohn, la Neuvième Symphonie de Beethoven, Die Schöpfung de Haydn, The Dream of Gerontius d’Elgar, le Requiem de Mozart, Das klagende Lied et Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen de Mahler. Ses enregistrements incluent le rôle du Docteur Schön (Lulu) dans la série “Opera in English” de Chandos, et The Pilgrim’s Progress, de Vaughan Williams, également pour Chandos. Robert Hayward (le Père) a étudié à la Guildhall School of Music and Drama de Londres et au National Opera Studio. Il a fait ses débuts professionnels à l’opéra dans le rôle titre de Don Giovanni avec le Glyndebourne Touring Opera. Il s’est produit au Royal Opera de Covent Garden, à l’English National Opera, au Welsh National Opera, à l’Opera North, au Scottish Opera, au Festival de Glyndebourne et avec le Glyndebourne Touring Opera, au Bayerische Staatsoper de Munich, au Grand Opéra de Houston, au Nouvel Opéra d’Israël, au Minnesota Opera dans un vaste répertoire incluant les rôles de Wotan et du Voyageur errant dans Der Ring des Nibelungen, Amfortas (Parsifal), Jokanaan (Salome), Figaro et le comte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), les rôles titre dans Die fliegende Holländer, Mazeppa, Saul, Eugène Onéguine et Don Giovanni, Iago (Otello), Ford (Falstaff ), Scarpia (Tosca), Marcello (La bohème), Escamillo (Carmen), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Golaud Jane Henschel (la Sorcière) est née dans le Wisconsin. Après avoir étudié à l’Université de la Californie du Sud, elle s’est installée en Allemagne. Elle a chanté les rôles de Baba la Turque (The Rake’s Progress) aux festivals de Glyndebourne, Saito Kinen et Salzbourg; Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) à l’Opéra de Los Angeles et à l’Opéra de Paris; Clytemnestre (Elektra) à l’Opéra de San Francisco; la Princesse (Suor Angelica) avec l’Orchestre royal du Concertgebouw sous la direction de Riccardo Chailly; les Dialogues des Carmélites à Amsterdam; Kostelnička (Jenůfa) sous 53 30/4/07 10:03:04 la direction de Seiji Ozawa au Japon et Kabanicka (Katya Kabanova) au Festival de Salzbourg. Au Royal Opera de Covent Garden, elle a chanté Fricka et Waltraute, Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Clytemnestre, Mrs. Grose (The Turn of the Screw); à La Scala de Milan elle a incarné Hérodiade (Salomé) et Cassandre (Les Troyens). Ses rôles au Bayerische Staatsoper de Munich incluent Hérodiade, Clytemnestre, Ulrica, Mrs. Quickly (Falstaff ) et Ortrud (Lohengrin); au Deutsche Oper de Berlin, Clytemnestre, Hérodiade et Ortrud; au Staatsoper de Vienne, Clytemnestre, Fricka et Mrs. Quickly. Son rôle signature est celui de la Nourrice (Die Frau ohne Schatten) qu’elle a interprété à Amsterdam, Londres, Los Angeles, Munich, Paris, Vienne, Berlin et au Metropolitan Opera de New York. Les enregistrements de Jane Henschel incluent Verlobung im Traum de Hans Krása, The Rake’s Progress, Merlin d’Albéniz, The Turn of the Screw de Britten, et la Huitième Symphonie de Mahler. elle a obtenu le “Queen’s Commendation for Excellence”. Sarah Tynan est membre (“Company Principal”) de l’English National Opera où elle a interprété les rôles de Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Iphis (Jephtha), Atalanta (Xerxes), Yum-Yum (The Mikado) et Sœur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites). D’autres engagements incluent le rôle de Tytania au Théâtre de La Monnaie de Bruxelles; Bella (The Midsummer Marriage) au St Endellion Festival sous la direction de Richard Hickox; Pretty Polly dans Punch and Judy de Harrison Birtwistle au Teatro Nacional San João de Porto; la Gouvernante dans The Turn of the Screw de Britten pour une tournée du British Council en Russie; Elsie Maynard (The Yeomen of the Guard) et Gianetta (The Gondoliers) au Phoenix Opera. Sarah Tynan a enregistré les rôles de Sœur Constance (The Carmelites) et Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) pour la série “Opera in English” de Chandos. Née à Winchester, Diana Montague (le Marchand de sable) a étudié au Royal Northern College of Music de Manchester. Depuis ses débuts dans le rôle de Zerlina avec le Touring Opera de Glyndebourne, elle s’est Née à Londres, Sarah Tynan (la fée Rosée) a étudié au Royal Northern College of Music de Manchester et à la Royal Academy of Music de Londres (avec Penelope Mackay) où 54 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 54-55 produite au Royal Opera de Covent Garden à Londres, au Metropolitan Opera de New York, au Théâtre de la Monnaie à Bruxelles, à l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, au Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires et aux festivals de Bayreuth et Salzbourg. Son répertoire inclut les grands rôles de mezzo-soprano des opéras de Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini et Berlioz. Elle s’est produite dans Benvenuto Cellini à l’Opéra de Rome; Iphigénie en Tauride à Buenos Aires, Madrid et au Welsh National Opera; Albert Herring, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) et Andromaca (Ermione de Rossini) à Glyndebourne; Le Comte Ory à Lausanne, Rome et Glyndebourne; dans le rôle de Proserpina (Orfeo de Monteverdi) à Amsterdam; dans Ariadne auf Naxos à Lisbonne; dans le rôle de Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust) à Vienne et Genève; Minerva (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) à Amsterdam et Sydney; dans Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg au Royal Opera de Covent Garden, dans le rôle de Junon (Platée de Rameau) avec le Royal Opera de Covent Garden au Festival d’Édimbourg et à Londres; et Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) à l’English National Opera, à Bilbao et au Teatro Real de Madrid. Les nombreux enregistrements de Diana Montague incluent l’Orfeo de Monteverdi, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Iphigénie en Tauride; pour Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata et Il crociato in Egitto; dans la série “Opera in English” de Chandos, Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Idamante (Idomeneo), Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian dans Der Rosenkavalier (extraits), Faust, et deux disques “Great Operatic Arias”. Le New London Children’s Choir a été fondé en 1991 par son directeur musical Ronald Corp dans le but d’introduire des enfants au challenge et à la joie de chanter et d’interpréter tous les genres de musique. Le Chœur a réalisé des dizaines d’enregistrements et de programmes radiophoniques, et a été invité par de nombreux grands festivals. Le New London Children’s Choir s’est produit en concert à Londres dans la Huitième Symphonie de Mahler avec le Royal Philharmonic Orchestra au Royal Albert Hall, dans la Troisième Symphonie de Mahler avec le London Symphony Orchestra au Barbican Center, dans Carmina Burana avec le Royal Philharmonic Orchestra au Royal Festival Hall et avec le Bach Choir au Royal Festival Hall, et dans trois concerts de Blue Peter aux BBC Proms. 55 30/4/07 10:03:05 La riche discographie du New London Children’s Choir inclut Turandot et Carmen dans la série “Opera in English” de Chandos, Casse-Noisette de Tchaïkovski, le Chant des forêts de Chostakovitch, Ivan le Terrible de Prokofiev, et St Nicolas de Britten. il joue également un rôle central dans la vie musicale britannique en choisissant des résidences régionales qui sont l’occasion idéale de développer un programme éducatif dynamique centré sur la communauté. Lauréat de nombreux prix, l’ensemble a été salué unanimement par les critiques pour ses programmes innovateurs dont l’un des objectifs principaux est l’interprétation et la commande d’œuvres nouvelles des plus grands compositeurs d’aujourd’hui. Un nombre croissant de concerts de l’Orchestre sont retransmis par BBC Radio 3, entre autres sa participation annuelle aux Promenade Concerts de la BBC. L’orchestre symphonique le plus enregistré au monde, avec plus de mille disques à son actif, parmi lesquels plusieurs bandes originales pour le cinéma et la télévision, le Philharmonia Orchestra est réputé dans le monde entier. Sa discographie comprend, pour Opera Rara, plusieurs disques de récitals ainsi que treize intégrales d’opéras et, pour Opera in English chez Chandos, série financée par la Peter Moores Foundation The Marriage of Figaro, The Thieving Magpie, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, Lucia of Lammermoor, Faust, Carmen, Aïda, La Bohème, Madam Butterfly, Turandot, une Reconnu comme l’un des plus grands orchestres du monde, le Philharmonia Orchestra a depuis dix ans le grand maestro allemand Christoph von Dohnányi pour chef principal. Le premier à avoir tenu ce poste fut Otto Klemperer et l’Orchestre depuis lors a collaboré avec succès avec Lorin Maazel (au poste de chef principal assistant), Ricardo Muti (chef principal et directeur musical), Giuseppe Sinopoli (directeur musical), une tradition qui se poursuit aujourd’hui avec Kurt Sanderling (chef émérite), Vladimir Ashkenazy (chef lauréat) et Sir Charles Mackerras (chef principal invité). L’ensemble a également été associé à des personnalités aussi éminentes que Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Guido Cantelli, Herbert von Karajan et Carlo Maria Giulini. L’Orchestre continue à collaborer avec des chefs et des solistes de stature mondiale et recrute les jeunes instrumentistes les plus talentueux d’Europe. Orchestre résident au Royal Festival Hall, 56 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 56-57 version primée de Tosca ainsi que plusieurs récitals solistes d’airs lyriques avec Bruce Ford, Diana Montague, Dennis O’Neill, Alastair Miles, Yvonne Kenny et John Tomlinson. Le Philharmonia Orchestra consolide constamment sa réputation internationale grâce à des tournées régulières et récemment de prestigieuses résidences au Châtelet Théâtre Musical à Paris, au Megaron à Athènes et au Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts à New York. Opera (1970 –1977), et au Welsh National Opera dont il fut directeur musical de 1987 à 1992. Il a été un défenseur de la musique de Janáček dans les capitales européennes, aux USA et en Australie. Jenůfa est l’une de ses œuvres préférées. Il a entretenu une longue collaboration avec la Philharmonie tchèque et a enregistré à la tête de cette formation la plupart des œuvres pour orchestre de Janáček, ainsi que Kat’á Kabanová et Rusalka de Dvořák. Sa vaste discographie inclut le cycle primé des opéras de Janáček réalisé avec le Wiener Philharmoniker au début des années 1980. Pour Chandos, il a enregistré la version originale de la Messe Glagolitique de Janáček, le Psalmus Hungaricus de Kodály et le Concerto pour violoncelle de Dvořák. Dans la série Opera in English, il a enregistré Osud, La traviata, Werther, Julius Caesar, Mary Stuart, Eugene Onegin, Jenůfa, The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride et The Makropulos Case. Charles Mackerras a également fait d’importantes recherches dans le domaine de la musique du dix-huitième siècle, en particulier Haendel et Mozart. Il a enregistré une série consacrée aux opéras de Mozart et à ceux de Gilbert et Sullivan, ainsi que les cycles complets des symphonies de Mozart, Sir Charles Mackerras étudia au Conservatoire de Musique de Sydney et vint en Angleterre en 1947. Il obtint une bourse du British Council pour continuer ses études à l’Académie de Musique de Prague. Son vif intérêt et sa passion pour la musique de Janáček commença en 1947 après avoir entendu l’opéra Kat’á Kabanová dirigé par le grand Václav Talich. C’est en qualité de chef assistant au Sadler’s Wells qu’il donna la première de Kat’á Kabanová dans un pays de langue anglaise en 1951. Plus tard, il présenta L’Affaire Makropoulos et La Maison des morts au Sadler’s Wells. Il continua à diriger des productions très acclamées d’opéras de Janáček ainsi que des ouvrages du répertoire habituel quand il devint directeur musical de l’English National 57 30/4/07 10:03:07 Beethoven et Brahms, plusieurs oratorios de Haendel et des symphonies de Mahler et Elgar. Il est actuellement chef principal invité du Philharmonia Orchestra, chef lauréat du Scottish Chamber Orchestra et chef émérite du Welsh National Opera et du San Francisco Opera. Charles Mackerras fut nommé commandeur de l’empire britannique (CBE) en 1974 et anobli en 1979. Il a reçu la Médaille du Mérite de la République tchèque en 1996 et fait Companion of the Order of Australia en 1997. En 2003, la reine Elizabeth II l’a nommé Companion of Honour. On session: Sarah Tynan On session: Rosalind Plowright CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 58-59 30/4/07 10:03:08 Hansel, Gretel e Humperdinck Talvolta ci si chiede se Hänsel und Gretel sia veramente un’opera per bambini o per adulti. La risposta, naturalmente, è che è per tutt’e due. Ai bambini piacciono i motivi facili e i giochi cantati, la comicità grottesca della strega con le sue mostruose abitudini alimentari e le apparizioni soprannaturali, culminanti nella sequenza della Pantomima del sogno che, negli allestimenti tradizionali, vede l’ingresso di quattordici angeli che scendono da una scala per proteggere i bambini addormentati nella foresta. Ma queste cose piacciono anche al bambino che si nasconde dentro ognuno di noi. Gli adulti probabilmente apprezzeranno inoltre la ricca orchestrazione di Humperdinck, la delicata armonia, la sempre valida invenzione melodica e il magistrale contrappunto, e la straordinaria varietà di stati d’animo e tessiture, che vanno da complessità quasi wagneriane a un’esuberanza danzante che ricorda Johann Strauss. Tutti aspetti che apprezzano anche i bambini, almeno a livello inconscio, pur non conoscendo Wagner o il contrappunto. Ecco un’opera per tutti. Più difficile è decidere se questa fiaba, o se le fiabe in generale, sia adatta ai bambini o addirittura agli adulti. L’opera di Humperdinck contiene molte scene divertenti, diversi momenti confortanti e un lieto fine, ma è piena anche di elementi inquietanti. Succede, normalmente, nelle favole, soprattutto in quelle dei fratelli Grimm. I due fratelli tedeschi, Jacob Ludwig (1785 –1863) e Wilhelm Carl (1786 –1859) Grimm furono illustri accademici ed esperti di tradizioni popolari ante litteram. Pubblicarono importanti volumi sulla grammatica, il vocabolario e il lessico tedesco, ma la loro opera più famosa fu il volume, curato da entrambi, dal titolo Kinder- und Hausmärchen del 1812, poi pervenuto alle generazioni moderne, grazie a frequenti ristampe, e meglio noto come Fiabe dei fratelli Grimm. Prima di allora era stato pubblicato un numero ridotto quelle che oggi chiamiamo fiabe, ma il successo della raccolta dei fratelli Grimm incoraggiò la creazione di molte altre collezioni in tutta Europa, creando un nuovo genere letterario importante. L’iniziativa arrivava al momento giusto: a causa dei profondi cambiamenti nella società europea durante l’Ottocento, molte di queste storie popolari della tradizione oralme 60 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 60-61 avrebbero perso il proprio potere dopo un paio di generazioni e sarebbero scomparse. I fratelli Grimm e i loro seguaci salvarono gran parte di questo materiale che diversamente sarebbe stato perduto per sempre. Hansel e Gretel comparve nella prima edizione delle loro fiabe. La storia è ancora più crudele dell’adattamento realizzato dalla sorella di Humperdinck, Adelheid Wette, e che poi divenne la sua opera più famosa. Il padre e la madre di Hansel e Gretel (la madre si sarebbe poi trasformata in matrigna, personaggio un po’ meno inquietante, nella seconda edizione e in quelle successive) sono talmente poveri che decidono di “perdere” i bambini nella foresta, per potere avere di che sfamarsi. È la madre a concepire l’idea e a convincere il marito, contro la sua volontà. Al primo tentativo, Hansel riesce a salvarsi con la sorellina grazie a un furbo accorgimento (lascia cadere sassolini lucenti lungo il percorso e per ritornare seguendoli a ritroso), ma la seconda volta è costretto a utilizzare briciole di pane, che verranno prevedibilmente mangiate dagli uccelli. I due bambini si smarriscono, scoprono la strega e la sua casa, poi uccidono la vecchia come nell’opera (anche se non liberano altri bambini trasformati in dolci), poi riescono a ritrovare la via di casa, dove scoprono, con indubbio sollievo, che la madre/matrigna nel frattempo è morta. Non è necessario fare necessariamente ricorso all’approccio freudiano per rilevare il collegamento occulto tra la figura della madre/matrigna e quella della strega, soprattutto considerata la morte più o meno contemporanea di entrambe. Questo rapporto psicologico è evidenziato negli allestimenti dell’opera in cui i due ruoli vengono interpretati dalla stessa cantante (per quanto questa non fosse l’intenzione di Humperdinck e non è stata seguita nella presente registrazione). Un’altra tradizione negli allestimenti, comune soprattutto in Germania, è quella di affidare il ruolo della strega a un tenore travestito da donna. Entrambe sono idee interessanti, che però si escludono a vicenda. Che la versione di Wette/Humperdinck non solo consenta a Gertrud di vivere ma di rallegrarsi di ritrovare i figli aggiunge all’epilogo un calore profondo a modo suo quanto la cupa versione dei Grimm, assicurando con più probabilità il successo teatrale. L’opera di Humperdinck appartiene alla sottocategoria tedesca delle cosiddette Märchenoper, o in questo caso Märchenspiel (opere fiabesche: come vedremo, Hänsel und 61 30/4/07 10:03:13 Gretel originariamente non fu un’opera). La tradizione si sviluppò sulla scia del rinnovato interesse per il racconto popolare o fiabesco suscitato dai fratelli Grimm e raggiunse la sua piena fioritura alla fine dell’Ottocento e all’inizio del Novecento. In questo genere si specializzarono una serie di compositori, soprattutto lo stesso Humperdinck, che si ispirò ancora una volta ai fratelli Grimm per Die sieben Geislein (I sette capretti) nel 1895, a Charles Perrault per Dornröschen (La bella addormentata) nel 1902, e a un racconto popolare inventato di Ernst Rosmer (pseudonimo del drammaturgo Else Bernstein-Porges, che sarebbe sopravvissuto al campo di concentramento di Terezín, spegnendosi a 82 anni nel 1949) per Königskinder (I figli del re, versione finale 1910). L’altro importante esponente fu Siegfried, figlio di Richard Wagner (1869–1930), egli stesso influenzato da Humperdinck, che compose diciotto opere, diverse delle quali sono Märchenoper, un genere da lui esplorato non per le sue qualità di evasione, ma come mezzo di affrontare difficili problematiche morali ed emotive. Recenti revival di brani come Schwarzschwanenreich (Il regno del Cigno nero, 1910) e Der Friedensengel (L’angelo della pace, 1914) evidenziano la sua voce propria, talvolta originale e valida, purtroppo soffocata dal tremendo fracasso di quella, ben superiore, del padre. All’inizio Adelheid Wette chiese al fratello solo di musicare alcuni Lieder per un lavoro teatrale ispirato ad Hansel e Gretel (alcuni dei passaggi più semplici dell’opera, compresi quelli che attingono a veri canti popolari, rispecchiano questi esordi). In seguito il lavoro fu ampliato e trasformato in Singspiel, in cui si alternano parti cantate e recitate. Un ampliamento ulteriore lo trasformò in un’opera completa, con alcune consistenti sezioni orchestrali. La straordinaria coerenza del risultato finale è in sé un miracolo. Le transizioni di Humperdinck sono talmente abili che non si notano discrepanze. È un esempio perfetto del precetto di Wagner: l’arte della composizione è l’arte della transizione. Cosa interessante, Königskinder (I figli del re), la seconda delle opere famose di Humperdinck, si sviluppò secondo linee simili. Inizialmente concepita come musica di scena per un lavoro teatrale nel 1894, fu poi rimaneggiata (1897) come melodramma con la tecnica dello Sprechgesang – successivamente adottato da Schoenberg e Berg, in cui le parole sono annotate esattamente dal punto 62 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 62-63 di vista ritmico, ma lasciate molto più vaghe per quanto riguarda il tono – prima di raggiungere la forma finale di opera completa nel 1910. Königskinder non viene riproposta spesso, ma quando questo accade la partitura si rivela ricca e affascinante. Probabilmente non ebbe un successo più ampio perché il suo tono è tanto più tenebroso di quello di Hansel e Gretel. I figli del re del titolo – la loro simbolica nobiltà non è ereditata nel caso di uno dei due, ma in qualche misterioso senso risulta innata – alla fine muoiono. Forse, dopo tutto, il pubblico preferisce il lieto fine. A giudicare dalla qualità di queste due opere, forse è un peccato che il resto della produzione di Humperdinck sia rimasto ignorato. Il compositore appare vittima del suo primo successo, come altri il cui nome rimane legato solo a un’opera, per esempio Mascagni e Leoncavallo. Tutti volevano semplicemente un’altra Hansel e Gretel. Anche questo è comprensibile. Non appena ne lesse la partitura, Richard Strauss la salutò come un capolavoro; ed era senz’altro un intenditore. Ciononostante, Humperdinck ebbe una lunga e distinta carriera di compositore e maestro. Vale la pena di ricordare in breve la sua biografia. Nato a Siegburg, nei pressi di Colonia, nel 1854, iniziò a prendere lezioni di pianoforte a sette anni e dopo aver assistito alla sua prima opera all’età di quattordici anni iniziò a comporre. Sebbene il padre ostacolasse le sue ambizioni musicali, gli permise di iscriversi al conservatorio di Colonia a diciotto anni. Humperdinck studiò coscienziosamente per diversi anni con maestri minori come Hiller, Rheinberger e Lachner, e vinse una serie di premi. Ancora più importante fu il suo incontro (1880) con Richard Wagner, che lo invitò successivamente a Bayreuth, dove Humperdinck fu suo assistente musicale nella preparazione del primo allestimento del Parsifal nel 1882. Durante la sua carriera, Humperdinck fu insegnante e critico a periodi alterni, ma le sue sorti cambiarono con il successo dell’opera fiabesca Hänsel und Gretel, che raggiunse le scene poco prima del Natale 1893. L’accoglienza fu spettacolare: in un anno fu accettata da ben settantadue teatri e poi entrò nel repertorio. Il compositore continuò a produrre opere, per lo più comiche o fiabesche, ma Hänsel und Gretel rimane l’esempio più significativo, e riscosse un’enorme fama internazionale, dimostrata dal fatto che, nel 1910, il Metropolitan di New York allestì la prima 63 30/4/07 10:03:14 di Königskinder. Il successivo impegno di un certo rilievo portò Humperdinck a Londra, su richiesta del grande regista teatrale Max Reinhardt. Ispirato a una leggenda medievale trasformata in dramma da Karl Vollmöller, lo spettacolare The Miracle vide la prima nelle sale dell’esposizione di Olympia nel 1911, e Humperdinck compose una partitura di accompagnamento. La vicenda narra la storia di una suora che abbandona l’ordine per fare esperienza di vita, ma scopre al suo ritorno da penitente che la sua mancanza non è stata notata perché il suo posto è stato occupato nientemeno che dalla vergine Maria. La produzione di Reinhardt, che impegnò ogni sera migliaia di interpreti, fu riproposta a New York nel 1924 e filmata due volte. Le altre opere di Humperdinck comprendono musica di scena (soprattutto una sequenza per Shakespeare, composta anche in questo caso per Reinhardt), brani corali, lieder e musica da camera. Il compositore morì a Neustrelitz, non lontano da Berlino, nel 1921. Fu Richard Strauss – grande direttore oltre che grande compositore di opere liriche – a dirigere la prima esecuzione di Hänsel und Gretel al Teatro di Corte di Weimar la sera dell’antivigilia di Natale del 1893. Il giorno di Santo Stefano del 1894, l’opera fu allestita per la prima volta nel Regno Unito, presso il Daly’s Theatre di Londra, in inglese. Nell’aprile successivo era già stata rappresentata qui cento volte. Quando il Daly’s fu richiesto per un altro spettacolo, Hansel and Gretel si trasferì al Gaiety, dove fu proposta nel corso di alcune matinée insieme con Bastien and Bastienne, una delle prime commedie di Mozart. In seguito si trasferì al Princess’s Theatre, quindi al Savoy. Il pubblico del Covent Garden vi assistè per la prima volta nel 1896, quando venne eseguita ancora una volta in inglese. Nel 1923 lo spettacolo in inglese allestito dalla British National Opera Company al Covent Garden divenne la prima opera radiotrasmessa in Europa dalla BBC. La prima americana ebbe luogo presso Daly’s Theatre di New York l’8 ottobre 1895, sempre in lingua inglese. L’opera entrò nel repertorio del Metropolitan il 25 novembre 1905 (il compositore fu presente al primo spettacolo), e il giorno di Natale del 1931 fu la prima a essere trasmessa dal vivo dal Met. Tra gli allestimenti recenti di maggior successo nel Regno Unito ricordiamo la versione di David Pountney per English National Opera, che aprì al London Coliseum il 16 dicembre 1987 inizialmente con la direzione di Mark Elder, e quella di Richard Jones per la Welsh National Opera, 64 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 64-65 felici nella stanza. 8 – 9 Peter rimane inorridito quando viene a sapere che i bambini non sono a casa e sono stati inviati nel bosco a raccogliere fragole: nella foresta abita una strega che attira i bambini nella sua casetta e li inforna vivi per trasformarli in biscotti! I due si precipitano fuori a cercare i bambini. diretta inizialmente da Vladimir Jurowski, che aprì presso il New Theatre di Cardiff il 10 dicembre 1998. © 2007 George Hall Sinossi COMPACT DISC ONE Atto II Nel bosco 10 Preludio. 11 – 12 Gretel intreccia una ghirlanda di fiori, mentre Hansel mangia le fragole che ha raccolto. Quando hanno finito le fragole, i bambini cominciano a cercarne altre, ma ormai si è fatto buio 13 e capiscono di essersi smarriti. Si alza una fitta nebbia e i bambini hanno paura, 14 ma poi la nebbia si dirada e compare il nano Sabbiolino, che sparge polvere sui loro occhi. 15 Dopo aver recitato le preghiere della sera, i bambini si addormentano insieme. La nebbia li avvolge e si trasforma in una scala di nuvole, mentre quattordici angeli scendono a proteggerli durante la notte. 16 Pantomima. 1 Ouverture Atto I La casa del fabbricante di scope Lasciati a casa dai genitori, Hansel fabbrica scope per il padre, mentre sua sorella Gretel prepara delle calze a maglia. 2 – 4 Per distrarre il fratello, Gretel gli canta una canzone; Hansel si unisce a lei e ben presto tutti e due cantano e ballano. 5 – 6 Quando rientra Gertrude, la madre, va su tutte le furie vedendo che i figli hanno lavorato pochissimo e accidentalmente rovescia la brocca del latte. Presa dall’ira, spedisce i bambini a raccogliere fragole nel bosco, poi si siede e si addormenta, esausta. COMPACT DISC TWO Rientra Peter, il padre dei bambini, trionfante. È riuscito a vendere tutte le scope e ha portato del cibo a casa. I genitori danzano 7 Atto III La casetta di panpepato 65 30/4/07 10:03:17 1 Introduzione. 2 – 3 Mentre albeggia, arriva la fata della rugiada e ne spruzza alcune gocce sui bambini per svegliarli. 4 Mentre i fratelli giocano, la nebbia si dissolve e compare una casetta di panpepato circondata da uno steccato di figure di panpepato. 5 – 6 I bambini lo spezzano per mangiarlo, ma vengono sorpresi dalla strega che cattura Hansel gettandogli una fune intorno al collo. 7 – 9 Il bambino cerca di liberarsi, ma la strega getta un incantesimo sui due fratelli, chiude Hansel nella stalla e spedisce Gretel in casa ad apparecchiare. 10 Ma Gretel ricorda l’incantesimo della strega e lo utilizza per liberare il fratello. La strega chiede a Gretel di controllare il forno, ma la bambina fa finta di non capire e le chiede di mostrarle come si fa. I bambini spingono in fretta la vecchia nel forno e chiudono la porta. 11 – 12 Il forno esplode e le figure di panpepato dello steccato ridiventano bambini come erano prima di essere stati infornati. 13 Arrivano i genitori di Hansel e Gretel e tra la gioia generale si scopre che la strega si è trasformata in un dolce di panpepato. Originaria di Atlanta, Jennifer Larmore (Hansel) ha studiato presso il Westminster Choir College di Princeton, New Jersey e poi privatamente con John Bullock e Regina Resnik. È famosa per le sue interpretazioni dei ruoli di coloratura del repertorio barocco e belcantistico. Il suo nome è associato soprattutto con il ruolo di Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), interpretato alla Metropolitan Opera, alla Staatsoper di Berlino, a Bonn, Parigi, San Francisco e Buenos Aires. Altri ruoli comprendono Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena) a Nizza; Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) a Marsiglia; Isolier (Le Comte Ory) alla Scala di Milano; Dorabella (Così fan tutte) al Festival di Salisburgo; Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) al Carnegie Hall di New York, all’Opéra de Paris-Bastille e a Ginevra; L’ italiana in Algeri alla Deutsche Oper di Berlino, oltre che a Parigi e Vienna; Ruggiero (Alcina) con la Chicago Lyric Opera; Sesto (La clemenzo di Tito) al Gran Teatro del Liceu di Barcellona; il ruolo di protagonista in Carmen con la Washington Opera; Giulio Cesare alla Metropolitan Opera e a Madrid; il ruolo di protagonista nell’Orfeo a Madrid; Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) in Giappone e al Met, Hansel (Hänsel und Gretel) alla Metropolitan Opera Traduzione: Emanuela Guastella 66 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 66-67 e in concerto ai Prom BBC; Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) alla Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, e il ruolo di protagonista ne La Cenerentola alla Metropolitan Opera. Con oltre settanta titoli al suo attivo, Jennifer Larmore è il mezzosoprano più registrato di tutti i tempi. La discografia comprende una registrazione di Great Operatic Arias per la serie Opera in English di Chandos, oltre a Lucia di Lammermoor, Giulio Cesare, Orfeo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola e, per Opera Rara, L’ incoronazione di Poppea, Bianca e Falliero, Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra, Francesca di Foix, e Adelaide di Borgogna. Per il suo contributo al mondo della musica, la cantante è stata insignita del titolo di Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres nel 2002. dove ha interpretato i ruoli di Nannetta con la direzione di Zubin Mehta, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zdenka (Arabella), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Ilia (Idomeneo) e Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro). Ha cantato Ilia per la Netherlands Opera e per l’Opéra de Lausanne; è stata protagonista di The Cunning Little Vixen per la Scottish Opera; ha interpretato i ruoli di Pamina, Susanna, Ilia, Marzelline (Fidelio), Norina (Don Pasquale) e Hero (Beatrice and Benedict) per la Welsh National Opera, Romilda (Xerxes) e Ginevra (Ariodante) per la English National Opera. Rebecca Evans ha un’importante carriera teatrale in America e ha cantato Susanna e Zerlina alla Metropolitan Opera, New York, Susanna alla Santa Fe Opera; Pamina e Adèle (Die Fledermaus) alla Lyric Opera di Chicago e Zerlina, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) e Adina (L’elisir d’amore) alla San Francisco Opera. In concerto è intervenuta ai Prom BBC e al Festival Internazionale di Edimburgo; è stata ospite di concerti di gala con Andrea Bocelli e Luciano Pavarotti; è comparsa al Melbourne International Festival. Si è esibita in recital alla Wigmore Hall di Londra e ai festival di Barcellona, Ravinia, Buxton, Belfast e Beaulieu-sur Mer. Rebecca Evans (Gretel) è nata nel Galles del sud, ha studiato presso la Guildhall School of Music and Drama e si è perfezionata con Ronald Schneider a Berlino, grazie al sostegno della Peter Moores Foundation. Alla Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, ha cantato Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nannetta (Falstaff ) e Johanna (Sweeney Todd). È ospite regolare della Bayerische Staatsoper di Monaco, 67 30/4/07 10:03:18 La discografia comprende Marzellina (Fidelio), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) e Ilia (Idomeneo) per la serie Opera in English di Chandos, oltre a Nannetta (Falstaff ) con sir John Eliot Gardiner, a questi ruoli si aggiungono una serie di registrazioni di musiche di Gilbert and Sullivan con sir Charles Mackerras e una registrazione solistica di brani italiani. Ha inoltre cantato Belinda sullo schermo in Dido and Aeneas (sempre pubblicato da Chandos), ed è stata protagonista di una serie televisiva per la BBC dal titolo “A Touch of Classics” con la BBC National Orchestra of Wales. due opere di Luigi Dallapiccola. La discografia comprende Queen Elizabeth I (Mary Stuart), Desdemona (Otello) e Amneris (Aida) per la serie Opera in English di Chandos, oltre a La forza del destino con José Carreras, Il trovatore accanto a Placido Domingo, Elijah di Mendelssohn (per Chandos), La Vestale, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, e la Seconda sinfonia di Mahler. Robert Hayward (il Padre) ha studiato presso la Guildhall School of Music and Drama e presso il National Opera Studio; ha esordito in teatro nelle vesti del protagonista di Don Giovanni per la Glyndebourne Touring Opera. Ha collaborato con la Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival e Touring Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper di Monaco, Houston Grand Opera, New Israeli Opera e Minnesota Opera in un ampio repertorio che comprende i ruoli di Wotan e il Viandante nel Ring, Amfortas (Parsifal), Jokanaan (Salome), Figaro e il Conte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), i ruoli di protagonista ne L’Olandese volante, Mazeppa, Saul, Eugenio Onieghin e Don Giovanni, Iago (Otello), Ford (Falstaff), Scarpia (Tosca), Marcello (La bohème), Escamillo (Carmen), Nick Shadow Rosalind Plowright (la Madre) si è esibita praticamente in tutti i maggiori teatri lirici del mondo e ha interpretato nuovi allestimenti al Covent Garden, English National Opera, Parigi, Amburgo, Francoforte, Monaco, Berlino, all’Opera di Vienna, ad Atene, al Metropolitan, a San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Carnegie Hall, La Scala di Milano, Verona, Firenze, La Fenice di Venezia, Barcellona, Buenos Aires e Santiago. Rosalind Plowright ha fatto ritorno al Covent Garden per Sweeney Todd e ha debuttato al Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 68 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 68-69 (The Rake’s Progress), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) e Wotan/Viandante nel ciclo del Ring della English National Opera. Gli impegni concertistici hanno compreso Belshazzar’s Feast di Walton, The Mask of Time di Tippett, Elijah di Mendelssohn, la Nona sinfonia di Beethoven e la Creazione di Haydn, The Dream of Gerontius di Elgar, il Requiem di Mozart e Das klagende Lied e Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen di Mahler. La discografia comprende il Dr Schön (Lulu) nella serie Opera in English di Chandos, e The Pilgrim’s Progress, sempre per Chandos. Alla Royal Opera, Covent Garden Jane Henschel ha cantato Fricka e Waltraute, Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Klytemnestra, Mrs Grose (The Turn of the Screw); alla Scala di Milano è stata Erodiade (Salome), e Cassandre (Les Troyens). I suoi ruoli all’Opera di Monaco comprendono Herodias, Klytemnestra, Ulrica, Mistress Quickly (Falstaff ) e Ortrud (Lohengrin); alla Deutsche Oper di Berlino Klytemnestra, Herodias e Ortrud, all’Opera di Vienna, Klytemnestra, Fricka e Mistress Quickly. Il ruolo che la contraddistingue è quello di Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten), interpretato ad Amsterdam, Londra, Los Angeles, Monaco, Parigi, Vienna, Berlino e al Metropolitan. La discografia di Jane Henschel comprende Verlobung im Traum di Krasa, The Rake’s Progress, Merlin di Albéniz, The Turn of the Screw di Britten e l’Ottava sinfonia di Mahler. Jane Henschel (la Strega) è nata nel Wisconsin, ha studiato presso la University of Southern California e successivamente si è trasferita in Germania. I suoi ruoli comprendono Baba il Turco (The Rake’s Progress) ai festival di Glyndebourne, Saito Kinen e Salisburgo, Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) per la Los Angeles Opera e l’Opéra di Parigi, Klytemnestra (Elektra) per la San Francisco Opera, la Principessa (Suor Angelica) con l’Orchestra del Concertgebouw diretta da Riccardo Chailly, Dialogues des Carmélites ad Amsterdam, Kostelnička (Jenůfa) diretta da Seiji Ozawa in Giappone e Kabanicka (Katá Kabanova) per il Festival di Salisburgo. Sarah Tynan (Fata della rugiada) è nata a Londra e ha studiato presso il Royal Northern College of Music e presso la Royal Academy of Music (con Penelope Mackay), dove ha ricevuto una Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. 69 30/4/07 10:03:21 Da quando è diventata solista della English National Opera, ha interpretato, tra l’altro, i ruoli di Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Papagena (The Magic Flute), Iphis (Jephtha), Atalanta (Xerxes), Yum-Yum (The Mikado) e suor Constance (The Carmelites). Altri impegni teatrali comprendono Tytania per il teatro La Monnaie di Bruxelles; Bella (The Midsummer Marriage) per il festival di St Endellion con Richard Hickox; Pretty Polly in Punch and Judy di Birtwistle al Teatro Nacional San João di Porto; la Governante in The Turn of the Screw di Britten durante una tournée del British Council in Russia; Elsie Maynard (The Yeomen of the Guard) e Gianetta (The Gondoliers) per la Phoenix Opera. Ha registrato i ruoli di suor Constance (The Carmelites) e Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) per la serie Opera in English di Chandos. Teatro Colón di Buenos Aires e ha partecipato ai festival di Bayreuth e Salisburgo. Il suo repertorio include i principali ruoli per mezzosoprano nelle opere di Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini e Berlioz, e i suoi impegni hanno compreso Benvenuto Cellini con l’Opera di Roma, Iphigénie en Tauride a Buenos Aires, Madrid e con la Welsh National Opera, Albert Herring, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) e Andromaca nell’Ermione di Rossini a Glyndebourne, Le Comte Ory a Losanna, Roma e Glyndebourne, Proserpina nell’Orfeo di Monteverdi ad Amsterdam; Ariadne auf Naxos a Lisbona, Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust) a Vienna e Ginevra, Minerva (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) ad Amsterdam e Sydney, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg alla Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Junon in Platée di Rameau con la Royal Opera al Festival di Edimburgo e a Londra, e Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) alla English National Opera, a Bilbao e al Teatro Real di Madrid. La ricca discografia di Diana Montagne comprende Orfeo di Monteverdi, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Iphigénie en Tauride; per Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata e Il crociato in Egitto; per la serie Opera in English di Chandos, Cherubino Diana Montague (Nano Sabbiolino) è nata a Winchester e ha studiato presso il Royal Northern College of Music. Dopo l’esordio nelle vesti di Zerlina con la Glyndebourne Touring Opera è comparsa alla Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, la Metropolitan Opera di New York, il Théâtre de la Monnaie di Bruxelles, l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, il 70 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 70-71 (The Marriage of Figaro), Idamante (Idomeneo), Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (momenti salienti), Faust, e due dischi di Great Operatic Arias. La Philharmonia Orchestra, una delle più grandi orchestre del mondo, è diretta per la decima stagione consecutiva dal famoso maestro tedesco Christoph von Dohnányi, in qualità di Direttore Principale. In precedenza questa carica era appartenuta a Otto Klemperer e da allora l’Orchestra ha collaborato con nomi di prestigio come Lorin Maazel (Direttore Principale Associato), Riccardo Muti (Direttore Principale e Direttore Musicale), Giuseppe Sinopoli (Direttore Musicale) e, attualmente, Kurt Sanderling (Direttore Emerito), Vladimir Ashkenazy (Direttore Laureato) e Sir Charles Mackerras (Direttore Principale Ospite), oltre che con artisti importanti come Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Guido Cantelli, Herbert von Karajan e Carlo Maria Giulini. L’Orchestra continua a collaborare con direttori e solisti di fama mondiale, oltre ad attrarre nelle sue fila i giovani musicisti europei di maggiore talento. Orchestra Residente presso la Royal Festival Hall di Londra, occupa una posizione centrale nella vita musicale britannica anche attraverso residenze regionali che offrono un’opportunità ideale per espandere il suo dinamico programma educativo, basato sulle comunità. Vincitrice di numerosi premi, è stata lodata all’unanimità dai critici per la sua politica di Il New London Children’s Choir è stato costituito dal suo Direttore Musicale Ronald Corp nel 1991 con l’obiettivo di entusiasmare al canto i più giovani e stimolarli all’interpretazione di musica di ogni genere. Il Coro ha al suo attivo decine di registrazioni e trasmissioni ed è stato invitato a comparire a numerosi importanti festival. Tra i momenti salienti dell’attività concertistica del Coro vanno ricordati la Sinfonia n. 8 di Mahler con la Royal Philharmonic Orchestra alla Royal Albert Hall, la Sinfonia n. 3 di Mahler con la London Symphony Orchestra al Barbican, Carmina Burana alla Royal Festival Hall con la Royal Philharmonic Orchestra e con il Bach Choir, e tre Prom BBC sponsorizzati da Blue Peter, una trasmissione per bambini. La vasta discografia del New London Children’s Choir comprende Turandot e Carmen nell’ambito della serie Opera in English di Chandos, Lo schiaccianoci di Čaikovskij, Il canto delle foreste di Shostakovich, Ivan il Terribile di Prokofiev e St Nicolas di Britten. 71 30/4/07 10:03:23 programmazione particolarmente innovativa e fortemente incentrata sull’impegno ad eseguire e commissionare musiche nuove firmate dai maggiori compositori contemporanei. I concerti dell’Orchestra sono trasmessi sempre più frequentemente da BBC Radio 3, incluso l’apparizione annuale in occasione dei BBC Proms. La Philharmonia Orchestra gode di una reputazione a livello mondiale ed è l’orchestra sinfonica che ha inciso di più in tutto il mondo, con un catalogo di oltre 1000 incisioni, tra cui una serie di colonne sonore per film e televisione. La sua discografia include, per Opera Rara, numerosi dischi di recital, oltre a tredici opere complete, e nella serie Opera in English per Chandos, sponsorizzata dalla Peter Moores Foundation, The Marriage of Figaro, The Thieving Magpie, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, Lucia of Lammermoor, Faust, Carmen, Aida, La Bohème, Madam Butterfly, Turandot, la Tosca, vincitrice di un premio, e vari album di recital, con assoli di arie d’opera eseguite da Bruce Ford, Diana Montague, Dennis O’Neill, Alastair Miles, Yvonne Kenny e John Tomlinson. La Philharmonia Orchestra continua a consolidare la sua fama internazionale con frequenti tournèe e attraverso le recenti, prestigiose residenze presso il Châtelet Théâtre Musical di Parigi, il Megaron di Atene e il Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts di New York. Sir Charles Mackerras ha studiato presso il Conservatorio di Sydney e si è trasferito in Inghilterra nel 1947. Ha ottenuto una borsa di studio del British Council per proseguire gli studi presso l’Accademia Musicale di Praga. Nel 1947 nasceva il suo appassionato interesse per Janáček, dopo aver ascoltato la Katá Kabánova diretta dal grande Václav Talich. In qualità di vicedirettore d’orchestra a Sadler’s Wells nel 1951 Mackerras proponeva la prima esecuzione di Katá Kabánova nel mondo anglofono. Il seguito avrebbe presentato L’affare Makropoulos e Da una casa di morti a Sadler’s Wells; avrebbe poi continuato a dirigere le opere di Janáček in allestimenti di grande successo, oltre a un repertorio più tradizionale alla sua nomina a Direttore musicale della English National Opera (1970 – 77) e in seguito della Welsh National Opera (1987 – 1992). È stato un pioniere della diffusione della musica di Janáček nelle capitali europee, negli USA e in Australia. Una delle sue opere predilette è Jenůfa. Sir Charles Mackerras ha al suo attivo una lunga collaborazione con la Filarmonica ceca, 72 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 72-73 Mozart. Ha registrato opere di Mozart e Gilbert e Sullivan oltre a una serie completa delle sinfonie di Mozart, Beethoven e Brahms, numerosi oratori di Handel e sinfonie di Mahler ed Elgar. Attualmente è Principal Guest Conductor della Philharmonia Orchestra, Conductor Laureate della Scottish Chamber Orchestra e Conductor Emeritus della Welsh National Opera e della San Francisco Opera. Sir Charles Mackerras ha ricevuto diverse onorificenze, tra cui il CBE nel 1974, seguito dalla nomina a baronetto nel 1979, la Medaglia di Merito della Repubblica Ceca nel 1996 e il titolo di Companion of the Order of Australia nel 1997. Nel 2003 all’elenco delle onorificenze reali britanniche si è aggiunto il Companion of Honour. con cui ha registrato la maggior parte delle opere orchestrali di Janáček oltre a Katá Kabánova e Rusalka di Dvořák. La sua vasta discografia comprende un premiato ciclo di opere di Janáček con i Wiener Philharmoniker all’inizio degli anni Ottanta. Le registrazioni per Chandos comprendono la versione originale della Messa glagolitica di Janáček, Psalmus Hungaricus di Kodály e il Concerto per violoncello di Dvořák. Per la serie Opera in English ha registrato Osud, La traviata, Werther, Julius Caesar, Mary Stuart, Eugene Onegin, Jenůfa, The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride e The Makropulos Case. Sir Charles Mackerras ha svolto inoltre ricerche approfondite sulla musica del XVIII secolo, soprattutto quella di Handel and 73 30/4/07 10:03:25 On session: New London Children’s Choir 74 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 74-75 75 30/4/07 10:03:26 COMPACT DISC ONE 1 I’ll sell my old mattress and sleep where I please, I’d rather have a bite than be bitten by… Overture Gretel (interrupting) Oh, it’s hunger that bites me. Act I Home: the Broom-Maker’s Cottage. Hansel (continuing) …Fleas! (throwing his work aside and getting up) Oh how I wish Mother would hurry up home. Scene 1 A small and poorly furnished room. In the background a door; a small window near it, looking on to the forest. On the left a fireplace with chimney above it. On the walls are hanging brooms of various sizes. Hansel is sitting by the door, making brooms, and Gretel opposite him by the fireplace, knitting a stocking. 2 Gretel (getting up) Oh yes, my tummy thinks it could eat a stone. Hansel Just crusts of bread, that’s all we’ve had, hunger keeps gnawing, driving you mad. Gretel Goosey goosey gander, the mouse in the straw put out his little head, can you guess what he saw? The geese had no shoes in the ice and the snow, cobbler can’t you make some? The answer was… Gretel Hush, Hansel, think of our father’s refrain when mother curses or complains: ‘When in need or dark despair God will always hear our prayer.’ Hansel (interrupting) Which is why they were barefoot. Hansel So nicely said, so pat, so neat, but such fancy words are no good to eat. Oh Gretel, I wonder how it would feel if we’d just gorged a scrumptious meal? Strawberry pancakes and beef with noodles, when did Mum last make apple strudels? Oh Gretel, I wish… Gretel (continuing) No! Hansel Hey diddle dumpling I sit here half dead! So who will lend me money to buy me some bread? 76 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 76-77 3 Gretel (stopping him) Stop. What a sulky glare! What is it doing there, that gruesome stare? It’s eyes are askew – phew, what a pout! Watch how I’m chasing that Gremlin out! (She takes a broom in her hand.) Down with the dumps, out with the grumps, we’ll do without you, spite you and flout you, keep your nose out, you pedlar of doubt you! Gremlin, gremlin, grumpy old grout, griping and groaning and grousing about, pack your bag, on your nag, ill-mannered lout. Down with the dumps, out with the grumps, hunger gets stronger, bites even longer. Why make a song or dance, What is wrong there? Gremlin Gremlin, grumpy old grout, griping and groaning and grousing about, pack your bag, on your nag, ill-mannered lout! Hansel Oh a secret. Now I can hardly wait. Gretel On one condition then. No more complaints. There’s milk in that jug full to the brim. The neighbours could see we were looking thin! When mother comes we’ll both get our wish, rice pudding, rice pudding our fav’rite dish! Hansel (with glee) Rice pudding. Pudding, pudding brimming with cream! I’m ready if it’s not just a dream! How thick is the cream on the top? Let’s taste it. (He licks the cream off his finger.) Oh wonderful! I’d like to guzzle all of it! Hansel (seizes the broom also) Down with the dumps, out with the grumps seething with longing, hunger pains are thronging, they’re far too strong, can’t bear it any longer. Gremlin, gremlin, gremlin, grumpy old grout, griping and groaning and grousing about, pack your bag, on your nag, you lout! Gretel (gives him a rap on his fingers) Stop, Hansel, stop it. Thieving again. Keep your hands off it or I’ll get the blame. Now leave it and get back to work, be quick! If you get caught we’ll get the stick. Mother is coming and nothing’s been done, and Hansel getting thrashed is not much fun. Gretel (pretending to sweep away) Alright, I’ll tell you on one condition just what I have found on my secret mission. Hansel (sticking his hands in his trouser pockets) Work again, I’ve had enough. Why is work such boring stuff? 77 30/4/07 10:03:30 ‘Hansel is lazy! Slacking again!’ We should be playing our dancing game. 4 Gretel Brother you have learnt it well, dancing breaks the gremlin’s spell. Once the boy gets down to school, maybe he’s not such a fool. Make your head go nick, nick, nick, make your fingers go click click click, one foot in, one foot out, take a bow and turn about. Gretel Dancing! Dancing! And only we know the way: the magic dance is our secret play. Singing the song that our Granny sings us: grasping the magic power that it brings us. (clapping her hands) Little brother dance with me, take my hand, advance with me, one foot in, one foot out, bow your head and turn about. Hansel Make your head go nick, nick, nick, make your fingers go click click click, one foot in, one foot out, bow and turn about. (Hansel tries to dance, but is very awkward.) Hansel Sister I’m a sorry sight; which is left and which is right? Show me once more how it goes, then I might avoid your toes. Gretel Dance it nimble, dance it neat, make it twinkle from your feet. When two children join together, they are more than twice as clever. (takes Hansel by the arm) Come! Gretel With your foot you tap tap tap, with your hands you clap clap clap, one foot in, one foot out, bow your head and turn about. Hansel I love to dance and sing and play my games hate to be alone. Let’s dance away our hunger pains, the dance is all we own. Hansel With your foot you tap tap tap, with your hands you clap clap clap, one foot in, one foot out, bow your head and turn about. Gretel I love to dance and sing and play my games hate to be alone. 78 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 78-79 Let’s dance away our hunger pains, the dance is all we own. (pulls Hansel along, and dances round him then gives him a push) Tra-la-la etc Turn around again and do it faster can’t you make your legs do more than that? Come over here, you lazy little rat! Hansel Now don’t be cross you bossy girl, I’ll catch you, you will see! (They dance as before.) Gretel Tra-la-la! etc Turn yourself around my slow-coach Hansel, turn yourself around and join the dance. Hansel (gruffly) Let go of me, let go of me, I’m not your little brat. A man has more important work than dancing with a girl. Gretel and Hansel Yes spin until your head’s askew, dance until you drop. And if you wear your stockings through, let mother sew them up. (They dance by turns as before. Then they seize each other’s hands and dance round and round, quicker and quicker, until at last they lose their balance and tumble over one another onto the floor.) Gretel But big boy I’m too strong for you, I’ll make you join the whirl. (dances round Hansel as before and gives him a push) Tra-la-la etc Mind you don’t fall over my dear Hansel, look at him he’s split his brand new pants. 5 Hansel (dances round Gretel) Tra-la-la! etc You naughty girl, you naughty girl, your stocking has a hole. Scene 2 Mother Hansel! (At this moment the door opens; the children see their mother coming and jump up quickly.) Gretel Oh heavens! Gretel You stubborn boy, you’ll do as you are told. A wicked child is not allowed to share the dance with me. Hansel Mother. It’s mother! 79 30/4/07 10:03:31 Mother What on earth d’you think you are doing? Gretel (confused) Well Hansel was feeling… Hansel It’s Gretel was squealing… Mother (comes in, unstraps her basket and sets it down) Children, you’ll bring this fam’ly to ruin. You are both selfish, you should be working, what do I find? Instead you’ve been shirking. You never think how your parents suffer. Each day for us the struggle gets tougher. (gives Hansel a box on the ear) Take that! Let’s see, how much you have done. (turning round) What Gretel? Not one is finished, not one? And you, you waster, you’ve had your warning: ‘Work hard’ I said when I left you this morning. You don’t do a stroke, but you still want feeding, maybe you’ll learn when your backsides are bleeding! (In her anger at the children she knocks the milk jug which smashes to pieces on the floor.) Heavens! You’ve made me ruin the supper. 6 (She lays her head down on her arms and drops asleep.) 80 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 80-81 (weeping. She looks at her skirt, down which the milk is streaming.) Now we are really scuppered. (Hansel sniggers.) How dare you, I saw you grin. (Stick in hand, she goes for Hansel who runs out of the door.) Wait, wait till your father comes in. (With sudden energy she snatches a basket from the wall and thrusts it into Gretel’s hand.) Out! Out! Go at once! Find me some strawberries, little runts. Come back when the basket’s full to the brim, or else you brats, you’ll be torn limb from limb (The children run off into the forest.) (She sits down by the table, exhausted.) My jug all in bits and guess who broke you! Yes, that’s what happens when children provoke you. (wringing her hands) My God we’re desperate, (sobbing) we’ve nothing to live on, the children will starve and there’s nothing to give them. No stock in the stock-pot, no crust in the bin, no wonder they’re feeble and thin. (She rests her head on her hand.) I’m exhausted. Weary, I’m finished. Dear God give us money. Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, that’s why I’m a drunken sot. (Reels over to his sleeping wife and gives her a smacking kiss.) Mother look what I have brought. Scene 3 A voice is heard in the distance. 7 Father Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, light the fire, your husband’s here! Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, full of luck and full of cheer! (somewhat nearer) Curse the poor, how much we suffer, work all day and get no supper, in your pocket a burning hole! In your stomach a gnawing hole. (plaintively) Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, hunger eats away your soul. Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, hunger eats away your soul. (Father’s face appears at the window, and during the following he comes into the room in a very lively mood, with a basket on his back.) Let the poor kick off their traces, happiness has many faces. But the truth, the truth’s no joke, poor men bear a heavy yoke. Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, hungry feeders often choke! (He puts down his basket.) Yes hunger cooks the finest dish, for all he does is wish and wish. Who cares if he’s a chef or not, you can’t cook much with an empty pot. Mother (rubbing her eyes) Oh no! What’s this bawling for goodness sake, that ca-caterwauling that’s made me awake? Father (inarticulately) Well, Well! It is a beast a lion at least, whose hungry yell demands his feast. Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, hunger is a greedy beast. Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la-la, bites and fights to be released. Mother I can tell that rotten skunk has come home drunk, he’s full of wine so let him pack his trunk. Father Now, now! It’s been a wonderful day, high time that you were cuddled. (wants to kiss her) 81 30/4/07 10:03:32 Mother (pushing him angrily from here) Get off! To you it looks like that way, because your brain’s befuddled. (He turns the basket topsy-turvy, and a lot of potatoes roll out.) Grease the pans and mix the batter, bring out every dish and platter. Father All right! (turning to his basket) My wife is such a sweet, maybe she’ll tell me what’s to eat. Father (He seizes her by the arm and dances round the room with her.) Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, hopsasa funny how the thought of food. (He knocks down some tin pots off the chimneypiece with a clatter.) 8 Father So here’s my story from the top. (He sits down. Meanwhile Mother packs away the things, lights a fire, breaks eggs into a saucepan, etc.) Back in eighteen-forty-three, we achieved democracy so they’ve planned a grand celebration, fanfares, flags and hymns to the nation. Thus the brushes business is booming, every blade of grass needs grooming. Even in the roughest quarter, there’s a run on soap and water. Every street looks oh so quaint! Spick and span in fresh white paint! Buy brushes! Buy brushes! And I soon found that a boomtown is a broomtown! I could have sold them ten times over, and at sky high prices, I’m in clover! Father Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, cheer up Mother, salvation’s here, and there’s every cause to cheer. (He takes his basket and begins to display the contents.) Look Mother, what d’you think of this for supper? Mother What? What? I’m dreaming. Lard and butter, flour and sausage, eggs and honey, (helping him to unpack it) man where did you find the money? Carrots, onions, and you’ve found some tea, a quarter pound! 82 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 82-83 Mother and Father Heat the stove and boil the kettle. Mother (joining in) Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, hopsasa puts you in a better mood! Mother This menu is a simple matter, a masterpiece: an empty platter! Empty cup, empty plate, and my purse in the self-same state! Mother (hastily) If you’re nice with them they abuse it, if you give them work to do they refuse it. God knows what noise they were making, dancing so wildly the house was shaking. Well, I got so angry I thought I’d choke. Father and Mother And so that was how the jug got broke! (laughing heartily) Ha ha ha ha ha! Father (he puts the glass of kummel to his lips but suddenly stops short) But wait, say where are the children? Hansel and Gretel, why aren’t they here? Father You meany grumpy-guts, don’t get so cross. On a day like today it’s no loss. I see, you sent them to bed without food? Mother Heaven knows (shrugs her shoulders with a puzzled air) I’ve no idea. But there’s one thing I know for sure, that our jug got smashed on the floor. Mother (curtly) No, they went to the Gibbet wood. Father (horror-struck) The haunted wood! (fetches a broom from the wall) You must be insane! Father (angrily) What? They broke the brand new jug? Mother (with an expression of contempt) The broomstick! Don’t hit me with that again. Mother And the milk went down the plug. Father (striking the table with his fist in rage) Blast those brats! It’s always the same, while we’re at work they’re misbehaving. Father (he lets the broom fall and wrings his hands) At night it’s a gruesome and sordid place, and no child should be there alone. 83 30/4/07 10:03:34 Mother Don’t say that! for she’s riding for the Devil, the black power of darkness and evil! Mother Tell me everything. Father For many a child has been lost without trace, where evil itself has its home. Father By day the louse plays cat and mouse in her crispy crunchy choc’late house. The unwary child is soon beguiled. The dear old lady, how sweetly she smiled! But once the child is in, her torments begin. A helpless child: the plaything of sin. She is stripped of her clothes in the oven she goes, and as the spit turns, skin blisters and burns. When she’s tender, nicely toasted (significantly) your daughter is roasted! Mother (surprised) What evil? Just tell me. Father (with mysterious emphasis) The gristle witches! Mother (starting back) The gristle witches! (He picks up the broom again, draws back.) Well, what’s that to do with a broomstick? 9 Father Hey, woman! I will come as well (takes the bottle from the table and runs after her) To save our poor kids from the jaws of hell! (The curtain falls quickly.) 10 Gretel (standing up) My garland’s almost finished. Look, it’s really quite the best I’ve made. (She tries to put the garland on Hansel’s head.) (The curtain rises) The middle of the forest. In the background is the ‘Ilsenstein’, thickly surrounded by fir trees. On the right is a large fir tree, under which Gretel is sitting on a mossy tree trunk, and making a garland of wild roses. By her side lies a nosegay of flowers. Amongst the bushes on the left is Hansel, looking for strawberries. Sunset. Mother Every morsel? 11 84 Hansel (comes out swinging his basket joyfully) Hurrah! Just look at these berries, the basket’s groaning! Let that put a stop to my mother’s moaning. Prelude to Act II The Witches’ Ride Act II Scene 1 Father The witch will devour her, ev’ry morsel! Father Ev’ry morsel! Little man, who can you be, are you just another tree? Did you bring that crimson cloak for me? He balanced there on one leg and took his nap, And hid his glassy eye with his black, black cap. If I woke you, tap, tap, tap, would your little leg go snap, Hiding there beneath your black, black cap? (She holds up the garland of flowers and looks at it from all sides.) Hiding there beneath your black, black, cap! (Runs out of the house.) Mother And when she’s been roasted? Father The broomstick, the broomstick, you know what it’s for: They ride on it, the Witches! But there’s one, a crone, who lives alone, with Satan’s eyes and a heart of stone. At dead of night, when no one’s in sight, she rides out to vent her hate and spite. From forest to crag, on her broomstick, the hag with a fiendish spring makes the death-knell ring. No children sing in the shade of her wing, CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 84-85 Mother (wringing her hands) All gone? My children, I’m coming! I cannot hold on. Hansel (drawing back roughly) Boys don’t wear soppy things like that! That is really a girl’s sort of hat! ( puts the garland on her head ) Now, Gretel, what a lady! You look good! I shall make you May Queen of the wood! Gretel (singing quietly to herself ) A dwarf stood in the forest but never spoke. He wrapped himself up tight in his red, red cloak. Gretel As I am the May Queen for today, my page presents the royal bouquet. 85 30/4/07 10:03:35 Hansel (gives her the nosegay) May Queen of the wood, I lay at your feet, this basket of berries to guard, not to eat! Hansel Throw your babies out. I’m first! Let them starve or die of thirst! (He gives the basketful of strawberries into her other hand, at the same time kneeling before her in homage.) 12 Hansel (pointing with his hand) Cuckoo, cuckoo, eggs are blue! (Cuckoo: behind the scenes, heard as if quite in the distance.) Hansel (helping himself ) Cuckoo, and you! (They each try to gain possession of the strawberries. Hansel wins and puts the whole basket to his mouth until it is empty.) Gretel (roguishly) Cuckoo, cuckoo, berries too! (takes a strawberry from the basket and pokes it into Hansel’s mouth: he sucks it as though he were drinking an egg.) Gretel (horrified, clasping her hands together) Hansel, now look what you’ve done, oh heavens you have scoffed all the berries, you pig you. Hansel (springing up) Ho-ho! I like that game. Look at me! (takes some strawberries and lets them fall into Gretel’s mouth) Watch how the baby cuckoo grows, he steals the food from under your nose. (It begins to grow dark, helping himself again) Cuckoo, jumps the queue. 86 Gretel Oh Hansel, we’re bound to come to some harm. Hansel Have courage, come, don’t be alarmed. Gretel Come, we’d better find more, and quickly. Gretel (helping herself) Cuckoo, too true. Cuckoo, me too! (Hansel pours a handful of strawberries into his mouth.) If you’ve filled your basket full watch the cuckoo steal them all. Cuckoo Cuckoo, Cuckoo. CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 86-87 Hansel (quietly) Now now, don’t pull that one on me! Look, Gretel you had your share I can see! Gretel (does the same) Cuckoo, gets his due. 13 Hansel But now it’s too dark, and those brambles are too prickly. Of course you could look for all you’re worth… but now it’s the darkest place on earth. Gretel But what are those shimmering columns of light? Gretel Oh Hansel, Hansel, we must have been mad. How could we have both been so stupid and bad? We wasted our time so carelessly playing. Gretel What’s that, that grins in the depths of the swamp? Hansel The silver birch in their robes of white. Hansel (stammering) Th-that? That’s just the moon on a willow stump. Hansel Hear what the pine-trees are saying: Listen to the whisp’ring glade ‘Children, children, tell me, are you not afraid?’ (Hansel looks around uneasily.) (At last he turns in despair to Gretel.) Gretel, I think we’ve lost the way. Gretel (hastily) There is a face so mean and sly, I’m sure it winked its evil eye. Hansel Watch it. Gretel (dismayed ) Oh God. Don’t say that. We’ve lost the way? Hansel (very loudly) You mind your own business! D’you hear? You spy! Gretel Just wait till mother hears. She will thrash you and then there’ll be tears! Hansel (pretending to be very brave) I will look after you my dear. I am a boy, I know no fear. Gretel (terrified) Those lights coming nearer they’ll burn in my hair! 87 30/4/07 10:03:36 Hansel Fire-flies are gathering in the air. Gretel, don’t let it frighten you. Look, it’s clear what we have to do. to cuddle and to clutch you, and gently spread my merchandise of sand in your weary eyes, at once those heavy eyelids close, in seconds you begin to doze; and when you’re deep and very fast asleep light shimmers from the Lodestar to show the angels where you are. Then they will bring you safely to the land of dreams. My dreaming, dreaming children, such happy seeming children, linger in the land of dreams! (A thick mist rises and completely hides the background.) Gretel Now ghostly tongues of mist are sneering. Look how they’re swirling all round us, jeering! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! Just leave me alone! (Rushes horror-struck under the tree and fall on her knees hiding herself behind Hansel) (crying out) Father! Mother! (Goes back some steps to the back of then stage and calls through his hands.) Voices (in the far distance behind the scenes, scarcely audible) Who’s there? (The children cower together.) There! There! (At this moment the mist lifts on the left: a little grey man is seen with a little sack on his back.) Gretel (somewhat timidly) Is someone there? Voices There! Hansel Ah! Who’s that there? Hold me tight! (becoming weaker) Why is he in the wood at night? Hansel (half asleep) Sandman good night. (The little man approaches the children with friendly gestures and the children gradually calm down.) (They cower down and fold their hands.) will show me God in Heaven! (They sink down on the moss and go to sleep with arms twined round each other.) (Complete darkness.) (Here a bright light suddenly breaks through the mist, which forthwith rolls itself together into the form of a staircase vanishing in perspective in the middle of the stage.) 16 Gretel (half asleep) Let’s say our prayers before we sleep. (The children shiver together.) Gretel Did you hear that? They answered: ‘There’ Hansel, someone else understood! (weeping) I’m frightened, it scares me; there is bad in the wood this is where children get lost for good. Scene 2 The sleep fairy: strewing sand in the children’s eyes. With a soft, gentle voice. Hansel Don’t say that. Come here and hold me tight I’ll keep you safe all through the night. 14 88 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 88-89 Sandman I am the little sandman, sh, A friendly helping hand man, sh, My dears I’ve come to touch you. 15 Gretel and Hansel Where each child lays down its head, fourteen angels guard the bed, two will stand above me, two will kneel to love me, two upon my right hand, on my left two more stand. Two will give me warning, two announce the morning, two times seven Scene 3. Pantomime Fourteen angels, in light floating garments, pass down the staircase two by two, at intervals, while it is getting gradually lighter. The angels place themselves according to the order mentioned in her evening hymn, around the sleeping children; the first couple at their heads, the second at their feet, the third on the right, the fourth on the left; then the fifth and sixth couples distribute themselves amongst the other couples so that the circle of angels is completed. Lastly the seventh couple comes into the circle, and takes it place as ‘guardian angels’ on each side of the children. The remaining angels now join hands and dance a stately dance around the group. The whole stage is filled with intense light. Whilst the angels group themselves in a picturesque tableau the curtain slowly falls. COMPACT DISC TWO Act III The Witch’s House at the Ilsenstein 89 30/4/07 10:03:37 The curtain rises. 1 Introduction 3 Scene 1 The same as the end of Act II. The background is still hidden in mist, which gradually rises during the following. The angels have vanished. Morning is breaking. The Dew Fairy steps forward and shakes dewdrops from a blue-bell over the sleeping children. 2 Dew Fairy When dew drops on the daisy the dawn is dim and hazy. The early birds amaze me but woe betide the lazy. Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Each dawn you yawn as my surprise of sunlight fills your bleary eyes; a gentle breeze is stirring, the hum of life is purring, then up you spring, reborn in the glory of the morning, a golden day is dawning. Wake up you sleepers, it’s rise and shine. Rise up and greet the sunshine. So up you sleepers awake. Hansel (suddenly jumps up) Ki-ke-ri-ki! I’m no fool. Ki-ke-ri-ki! And that’s a rule! Look, how could I not know that sunrise happened long ago. (Hurries off singing. The children being to stir.) 90 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 90-91 Gretel (rubs her eyes, looks around her, and raises herself a little, whilst Hansel turns over on the other side to go to sleep again) Where am I? Waking, dreaming or dead? I slept here? On a pine-tree bed! High in the branches a song-bird is calling. Down to my bedroom sweet notes are falling. Of course you rose at the break of day and now that the sun is up you’re on your way. You busy songbird. Good to hear you! (turns to Hansel) Look there, a lazy lump I call him. Hansel wake up there. Ti-re-li-re-li Hansel’s a fool! Ti-re-li-re-li he’s late for school The lark is up and ready, he’s soaring high and heady. Ti-re-li-re-li, ti-re-li-re-li! Gretel We both slept well and what is more I dreamt a very special dream. Scene 3 He turns towards the background: at this moment the last remains of the mist clear away. In place of the fir-trees is seen the Witch’s House at the Ilsenstein, shining in the rays of the rising sun. A little distance off, to the left, is an oven; opposite this, on the right, a large cage, both joined to the Witch’s House by a fence of gingerbread figures. Hansel (meditatively) Exactly. But what did it mean? Gretel I dreamt that distant bells were ringing. The stars resounded with angels singing. Clouds that were flooded in rosy light glowed as they floated in banks through the night. Suddenly night is turned to day before me, earth is blazing with Heaven’s glory. There’s a golden ladder angels defend it, Angels in pairs descend it. They look so bold there with shining wings of gold. 4 Hansel (surprised) What is that, a house came out of the ground. (in the greatest excitement) As if some magical spring had unwound. (Both stare at the house spellbound.) Gretel (gradually regains her self-possession) It smells so inviting, a gem set in the wood. Just fancy a night in a house made of food, with walls to be biting and roofs to be chewed, all over the icing Mama used to make, beneath that marzipan cottage a cake, and then in a pen there are gingerbread men! Hansel (interrupting her) Yes, I counted them, fourteen all told. Hansel and Gretel Ti-ti-ti-ti ti-re-li-re-li-re-li. Gretel (astonished) You also dreamt there were angels here? Hansel I feel so good here in the wood I never slept so soundly before. Hansel Right here. They gather round and that way they disappear. Gretel (holds Hansel back in astonishment) Keep still! No sound! Hansel A palace, with walls and roofs to be chewed, the icing Mama used to make, marzipan cottage, a cake, and then in a pen there are gingerbread men! 91 30/4/07 10:03:39 Gretel and Hansel A prince’s castle, a gem beyond all price. A magic parcel of sugar and all things nice. O prince, we are humble, we ask for your advice, with hunger we grumble, but your word would suffice, and then the starving could stumble towards a Paradise. Gretel and Hansel Come, I/we cannot resist, it’s not to be missed, the almond icing! Hansel (resolutely) Nobody answers. Ooh! The silence is ghoulish. But why don’t we taste it? Scene 3 A voice from the house Greedy little mousey, who’s nibbling at my housey? (They go hand in hand towards the back of the stage; and then steal along cautiously on tip-toe to the house. After some hesitation Hansel breaks off a bit of cake from the right hand corner.) 5 Gretel (pulling him back, horrified) Don’t be so foolish! Hansel! I’m sure it is meant to deceive. This food… all for nothing… now don’t be naïve! (Hansel starts, and in his fright lets the piece of cake fall.) Hansel Did you hear that? Hansel But look, the house, it has such a friendly face. (enthusiastically) Ha, the angels meant us to find this place. Gretel and Hansel (somewhat timidly) The breeze, just wind in the trees. Gretel (picks up the piece of cake and tastes it) Hmm! Gretel (reflectively) The angels? Well, perhaps you are right! Hansel (looking longingly at Gretel) D’you like it? Hansel But Gretel, that’s why we both dreamt of them last night. Come, the prospect is far too enticing. Gretel (lets Hansel bite it) Come on, it’s your turn! 92 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 92-93 Hansel and Gretel (lay hands on their breasts in rapture) Hei! It tastes so delicious, you have to have some more. For we’ve never tasted such Heaven before! Hansel and Gretel The breeze, the wind in the trees! (The upper part of the house-door opens gently, and the Witch’s head is seen at it. The children at first do not see her, and go on feasting merrily. Then she opens the whole door, steals warily up the children, and throws a rope round the neck of Hansel, who, without misgivings turns his back to her.) Hansel Ha! It’s divine! Gretel Like brandy butter! 6 Gretel Hansel, don’t be so greedy, remember the poor and the needy! Hansel (taking another bite) You be the prig, and I’ll be the pig! Hansel So sweet! Rich and crunchy! Gretel (snatches the piece from his hand) You should say please, the wind agrees. Gretel So crunchy! So sweet! And round the roof is a choc’late gutter. Hansel (takes it back from her) Don’t be a tease, I eat what I sees! Hansel (calls out) Hey! Mister baker! Look out for your roof! This mouse has got such a sweet little tooth.) (He breaks a big piece of cake off the wall.) Gretel and Hansel (laughing) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. The Witch (laughing shrilly) Hi hi, hi hi, hi hi hi hi hi hi! Hansel (terrified) Let go! Who are you? Let me go! The voice from the house Greedy, little mousey, who’s nibbling at my housey? 93 30/4/07 10:03:40 The Witch (drawing the children towards her) Scrumptious child! And you my bumptious child! (She caresses the children.) You’ve come on a visit? Fancy that! I love little children, so soft and fat! There are apple tarts and meringues like snow, chocolate mousse, Black Forest gateau, there’s butter, milk, and the cream that’s so good in your fav’rite, yes I know, it’s rice pudding. There’s creamy Swiss roll here and mountains of profiteroles here, and all as a treat just for you, my sweet, yes, all for you to eat! Hansel (makes desperate efforts to free himself ) Who are you? Go away! You’re a freak! The Witch Eh? Hansel How does this so-called glory appear? Gretel Just say ‘no’ to strangers! The Witch Well, just remember when it is near you shut your eyes and forget what you hear. The Witch My, my, my, how sly! My children, I’m trying so hard to be nice, you’ll find that my house is a Paradise! (to Hansel ) Come, little mousey come into my housey. (to Gretel ) You’ll be petted and pampered, and play all day unhampered. Hansel (turning roughly away) Go, ugly mug, go on your way. (stamping his foot) Leave us, d’you hear what I say? The Witch (laughing shrilly) Ha ha, ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha! I love to see children all cross and forceful especially you, the daintiest morsel! Come, little mousey come into my housey into the cave of Aladdin; a place a child could go mad in! Hansel Oh, but I use both my ears and my eyes: then I can tell that you’re telling lies. (resolutely) Gretel, all that she’s said is a trick. Now, run away, for God’s sake be quick. 94 (He has in the meantime got out of the rope, and runs with Gretel to the foreground. Here they are stopped by the Witch, who casts a spell upon them both with her magic wand. The stage becomes gradually darker.) Now Gretel, you’re the sensible one, and Hansel has some weight to put on. We’ll feed him up, I know the diet, all cream and sugar, that will keep him quiet. We’ll need some herbs, I know where they grow; you can’t move at all, as you know. The Witch Stop! Hocus pocus, witch’s ground, makes the victim muscle-bound. (She grins as she holds up her finger in warning and goes into the house.) 8 Gretel Maybe, what will my brother have to do? The Witch With you, we two will feed him and fatten him, those scrawny limbs we’ll tenderly nourish, his milk-fed body will flourish, Stand stock still, obey the witch when she points her hazel switch, like a stone, don’t even twitch! (Here the end of her wand begins to glow with light.) Hocus pocus, then come jocus; child, obey, or you are dead, face the front, march straight ahead, to the plate where you’ll be fed. (Fresh gestures: then she leads Hansel, who is gazing fixedly at the illuminated head, into the stable, and shuts the lattice door upon him.) Hokus pokus, boonus jocus, malus locus, hokus pokus! Bonus jocus, malus locus! (The stage gradually becomes lighter, whilst the glow of the magic head diminishes.) Hokus pokus, bonus jocus, malus locus, hokus pokus! (contentedly to Gretel, who stands there motionless) Hansel So speak out loud and not in my ear. Hansel I won’t stay here, it’s all just a lie. Witch Now, darling, that’s no way to speak! Children I want you to like me a little. My name’s Rosina Lickspittle; when you’re with me there’s nothing to fear, quite harmless, just a poor old dear. I’m fond of children, as you will see, that’s why I love to have (caresses Hansel) them for tea! CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 94-95 and when he’s plump and half asleep and docile, and obedient, like a sheep, then, Hansel, let me speak in your ear, your moment of greatest glory is here. 7 95 30/4/07 10:03:41 and a napkin for a starving wife. I like things in my kitchen just so: if not, on a plate with your brother you’ll go! (She threatens and titters. Gretel hurries off.) (Hansel pretends to be asleep.) The helpless booby sleeps like a lamb, he sleeps as only children can. When you’ve grown fat as lambkins should then you’ll be put to sleep for good! But in the meantime you’re too thin; with you, my precious, I’ll begin. Girls are sweeter eaten young, fit to melt a witch’s tongue. (She shuts the door and sniffs in it, her face lighted up by the deep red glare of the fire.) The dough is made, it’s time to set her braising. Quick, while the coals in the fire are blazing! (She pushes a couple more faggots under; the fire flames up and then dies down again.) (rubbing her hands with glee.) Yes, Gretel dear, you’ll fit the fish-kettle, dear! My, my, aren’t I sly! Darling, you’ve not had your bun yet, look in and see if they’re done yet. When she bends down, bam, shut the door, slam! Then when I’ve basted her and tasted her, the rum and the ribs and the brisket emerge as a gingerbread biscuit. My magic oven makes flesh into gingerbread cakes. My, my, how sly! Hi, hi, hi hi, hi hi, hi hi hi hi hi! Gretel (stiff and motionless) Oh, when she speaks my blood turns to ice. Hansel (whispering hastily) Gretel, pst! Don’t raise your voice. Be on your guard and try to see exactly what her plan seems to be. Pretend to help her with a will I think she’s coming back, pst! Still! (The Witch comes out, satisfies herself that Gretel is standing motionless and then spreads before Hansel almonds and raisins from a basket.) The Witch Look here, you dunce, and show me your tongue at once. (sticking a raisin into Hansel’s mouth) Eat, birdie or you’ll die in a gristly meat pie! (She turns to Gretel and disenchants her with a juniper branch.) Hocus pocus elder bush! Free the toes I’ve frozen, husch! (Gretel moves again.) Now then, my precious dainty beauty, high time you did your domestic duty! Off you go then, nimble maid, let us see the table laid: cutlery, crockery, cruet and carving knife, 96 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 96-97 9 10 (In her wild delight she seizes a broomstick and begins to ride on it.) So hopp hopp hopp, galopp lopp lopp, you lazy oaf, be off you sloth. (She rides excitedly round on the broomstick.) When up I spring, the bat takes wing, the hell-cat sings the death knell rings. (She rides again; Gretel meanwhile is watching at the window.) My tongue’s on heat to taste the sweet and melting treat of children’s meat. With five and six, the witch will mix, with seven and eight you lick your plate, and nine is one and ten is none so much is nil by witch’s will. She’ll ride until the night is through. (Hopping madly along she rides to the back of the stage, and vanishes for a time behind the cottage.) (Here the witch becomes visible again; she comes to the foreground, where she suddenly pulls up and dismounts.) Broomstick, huh! (She hobbles back to the stable and tickles Hansel with a birch-twig till he awakes.) Now wake up, it’s time to eat. Show me your tongue, my sweet! (Hansel puts his tongue out.) Yummee scrummee. (smacks with her tongue) Stuff your tummy! (smacks with her tongue again) Now, you poor little booby-head, show me your finger instead. (Hansel pokes out a small bone.) Look at that! A pin? Like a matchstick, so thin. Booby, you’re all skin and bone: do you not get fed at home? (calls out) Gretel! (Gretel appears at the door.) Hansel simply must eat some more. Bring some nuts, there in the store! (Gretel runs into the house, and returns immediately with a basket full of almonds and raisins.) Gretel Here are some almonds. (Whilst the witch is feeding Hansel, Gretel gets behind her and makes gestures of disenchantment with the juniper branch.) (softly) Hocus pocus elderbush, free the toe she’s frozen, husch! The Witch (turning round suddenly) What did you say, my little goose? (Hansel stirs himself again.) Gretel (confusedly) I said eat up now, there’s no excuse. 97 30/4/07 10:03:42 (Gretel hesitates.) The Witch Eh? Hansel (slipping out of the stable) Don’t succumb, act you’re dumb! Gretel (louder) Eat up now, there’s no excuse. Gretel (making herself our very awkward) Don’t know how to cook, don’t know where to look. The Witch (sticks a raisin into Gretel’s mouth) Oh what a darling. You have some too my starling! Eat, birdie or you’ll die, in a gristly meat pie! The Witch Open that door there, down by the floor there, bend down and try, easy as pie. (She opens the oven door; the heat has apparently diminished. Meanwhile Hansel makes violent signs to Gretel.) Hansel (pulling Gretel back by her frock) Suck your thumb, brain’s gone numb! Hansel (softly opening the stable door) Spin a line, play for time! Gretel (shyly) Please don’t be cross, I’m at a loss! You’ll have to show me. I always learn very slowly. The Witch (looking greedily at Gretel) My precious little daughter, my mouth begins to water! Come, Gretel dear, little petal dear. (Gretel comes towards her.) Goodness, you’ve not had your bun yet, look in and see if it’s done yet. You just bend down, pet, see if they’re brown yet, have a good long look, see if they’re cooked. The Witch (makes a movement of impatience) Bend down and try, easy as pie! (She begins creeping up to the oven muttering all the time, and just as she is bending over it, Hansel and Gretel give her a good push, which sends her topping into it, upon which they quickly shut the door.) Gretel and Hansel (mocking her) And when she bends down, bam! Shut the door, slam! 98 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 98-99 11 they become aware of a troop of children around them, whose disguise of cakes has fallen from them.) Then when I have basted her and tasted her. (Hansel and Gretel fall joyfully into one another’s arms.) Hoorah! Now that the witch is dead baked to bread we’re out of dread. Hoorah! Teach her to boast and brag. Roast the hag! Toast the scrawny scrag. We foiled her on our own, broil the crone! Boil her down to bone! (They seize each other’s hands.) Yes, let us dance to see the flames leap in ecstasy. Lick round the wicked wotch, quick brown the wicked witch. Hip hoorah! Gretel Look at the loaves of gingerbread. Hansel They are children rising from the dead. 12 Scene 4 Gingerbread Children (motionless and with closed eyes as the cake figures were before) The dead arise, but cannot see. Gretel They live again, but with blinded eyes. Can we help you? We long to set you free! Gingerbread Children One tender touch will give us back our sight. (They take each other round the waist and waltz together, first in front of the stage, and then gradually in the direction of the witch’s house. When they get there Hansel breaks loose from Gretel and rushes into the house, shutting the door after him. Then from the upper window he throws down apples, pears, oranges, gilded nuts, and all kinds of sweetmeats into Gretel’s outstretched apron. Meanwhile the oven begins crackling loudly, and the flames burn high. Then there is a loud crash and the over falls thundering into bits. Hansel and Gretel, who in their terror let their sweetmeats all fall down, hurry towards the oven, startled, and stand there motionless. Their astonishment increases when Hansel (embarrassed) It scares me too much, the helpless mite. Gretel One touch will fill their eyes with delight. (She caresses the nearest child, who opens its eyes and smiles.) Gingerbread Children Oh set me free, oh set me free. I long so much for eyes that see! 99 30/4/07 10:03:43 (Gretel goes and caresses all the rest of the children, who open their eyes and smile, without moving. Meanwhile Hansel seizes the juniper branch.) Hansel and Gretel You angels who guard us with all your might by day and night, let us give you thanks for strength to fight for life and light. For life and light for strength and sight give thanks with all your might! Hansel Hokus pokus elderbush! Free the toes she’s frozen, husch! Now she’s dead, where’s her head? Baked into a loaf of bread. (The two boys drag the witch into the cottage.) Mother Come my dears. Father Life is hard but not all black. God will pay the wicked back. When a child cries out in fear. Someone, somewhere surely has to hear, for when in need or dark despair God will surely hear our prayer! Father They’re both safe and sound despite our fears! (joyfully embracing) (The children jump up and hurry towards Hansel and Gretel from all sides.) All Praise and thanks. Accept out strength to fight for life and light, for the glorious gift of sight! Give thanks to be alive (They all press round Hansel and Gretel to shake hands with them.) Give thanks to be alive, Give thanks that we survive. Alive that we may strive, for life and light, for strength and sight, give thanks with all your might. Gingerbread Children The light, give thanks for sight! (The children close in a circle round Hansel and Gretel.) All The witch is dead the witch who fed on noses and toes she had baked into bread. But safe from harm join arm and arm and dance away her evil charm. So dance and swing the prancing ring, till every living thing shall spring for joy to greet each rescued girl and boy. (Meanwhile two of the boys have dragged the witch, in the form of a big gingerbread cake, out of the ruins of the oven. At the sight of her they all burst into a shout of joy. The boys place the with in the middle of the stage.) Hansel and Gretel When in need or dark despair God will surely hear our prayer! All See the witch bewitched for good, burnt to pitch, she’s ditched for good! (Whilst the children dance in a joyous circle round the group, the curtain falls.) Adelheid Wette, English translation by David Pountney Father (behind the scenes) Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la, would that we knew where our children were! Ral-la-la-la, ral-la-la-la-la. (The father appears in the background with the mother, and stops when he sees the children.) Look! why there they are! (Four Gingerbread children at a time surround Hansel and Gretel, and bow gracefully to them.) Hansel The angels showed in a dream they would look after us, let their reward be a stream of children’s laughter. 100 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 100-101 13 Final Scene Gretel and Hansel (running towards them) Father! Mother! 101 30/4/07 10:03:45 On session: Diana Montague On session: Robert Hayward 102 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 102-103 103 30/4/07 10:03:46 On session From left to right: Sir Peter Moores, Jane Henschel, Rebecca Evans, Brian Couzens, Sir Charles Mackerras and Ralph Couzens 104 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 104-105 105 30/4/07 10:03:51 The Opera In English Series CHAN 3011(2) CHAN 3027(2) CHAN 3083(2) CHAN 3017(2) CHAN 3073 CHAN 3003 CHAN 3004 CHAN 3005(2) CHAN 3008(2) CHAN 3070(2) CHAN 3000(2) CHAN 3066 CHAN 3086(2) CHAN 3025(2) CHAN 3097(2) CHAN 3074(2) CHAN 3052(2) Donizetti: Don Pasquale Donizetti: The Elixir of Love Donizetti: Lucia of Lammermoor Donizetti: Mary Stuart Janet Baker sings scenes from Mary Stuart Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (The Touring Company) Mascagni: Cavalleria rusricana (Rustic Chivalry) Pagliacci & Cavalleria rusticana Puccini: La bohème Puccini: Madam Butterfly Puccini: Tosca Jane Eaglen sings Tosca Puccini: Turandot Rossini: The Barber of Seville Rossini: The Thieving Magpie Verdi: Aida Verdi: Ernani Great Operatic Arias CHAN 3079(2) CHAN 3116(2) CHAN 3136(2) CHAN 3068(2) CHAN 3030(2) CHAN 3023(2) CHAN 3036(2) CHAN 3067 CHAN 3091(2) CHAN 3014(3) CHAN 3089(2) CHAN 3033(2) CHAN 3134(2) CHAN 3130(3) CHAN 3094(2) CHAN 3019(3) CHAN 3072 Verdi: Falstaff Verdi: A Masked Ball Verdi: Nabucco Verdi: Otello Verdi: Rigoletto Verdi: La traviata Verdi: Il trovatore (The Troubadour) A Verdi Celebration Bizet: Carmen Gounod: Faust Gounod: Faust (abridged) Massenet: Werther Poulenc: The Carmelites Berg: Lulu Berg: Wozzeck Handel: Julius Caesar Janet Baker sings scenes from Julius Caesar CHAN 3081(2) Mozart: The Abduction from the Seraglio 106 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 106-107 CHAN 3057(3) CHAN 3103(2) CHAN 3113(3) CHAN 3121(2) CHAN 3022 CHAN 3119(2) CHAN 3054(3) CHAN 3038(4) CHAN 3045(4) CHAN 3060(5) CHAN 3065(16) CHAN 3133 CHAN 3101(2) CHAN 3029(2) CHAN 3106(2) CHAN 3138(2) CHAN 3007 CHAN 3128(2) CHAN 3042(2) Mozart: Don Giovanni Mozart: Idomeneo Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Mozart: The Magic Flute Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose, highlights) Wagner: The Flying Dutchman Wagner: The Rhinegold Wagner: The Valkyrie Wagner: Siegfried Wagner: Twilight of the Gods Wagner: Complete Ring Cycle Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen Janáček: Osud (Fate) Janáček: Jenůfa Janáček: The Makropulos Case Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (highlights) Smetana: The Bartered Bride Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin CHAN 3127 CHAN 3096 CHAN 3035 CHAN 3099 CHAN 3049 CHAN 3142 CHAN 3010 CHAN 3093 CHAN 3112 CHAN 3006 CHAN 3100 CHAN 3088 CHAN 3013 CHAN 3105 CHAN 3085 CHAN 3077 CHAN 3032 CHAN 3044 CHAN 3076 CHAN 3118 CHAN 3078 Christine Brewer Elizabeth Futral Yvonne Kenny Yvonne Kenny 2 Della Jones Jennifer Larmore Diana Montague Diana Montague 2 Barry Banks Bruce Ford Bruce Ford 2 Bruce Ford sings Viennese Operetta Dennis O’Neill Dennis O’Neill 2 Alan Opie Andrew Shore Alastair Miles John Tomlinson John Tomlinson 2 Sir Thomas Allen Baroque Celebration 107 30/4/07 10:03:56 CHAN 3138(2) On session: Richard Farnes and Brian Couzens Also Available CHAN 3142 On session: Richard Farnes and Brian Couzens Also Available 108 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 108-109 109 30/4/07 10:03:57 On session: Richard Farnes and Brian Couzens Also Available Vocal and language consultant: Ludmilla Andrew Staging direction: Charles Kilpatrick Music hired from Welsh National Opera CHAN 3121(2) Session photos by Bill Cooper 110 CHAN 3143(2) Book.indd 110-111 Recording producer Brian Couzens Sound engineer Ralph Couzens Assistant engineer & Editor Jonathan Cooper Operas administrator Sue Shortridge Recording venue Blackheath Halls, London; 22 – 27 November 2006 Front cover Montage by designer Back cover Photo of Sir Charles Mackerras Design and typesetting Cassidy Rayne Creative Booklet editor Kara Reed Copyright English translation © 1987 David Pountney (updated 2003 Welsh National Opera) P 2007 Chandos Records Ltd C 2007 Chandos Records Ltd 111 30/4/07 10:04:00 CHAN 3143(2) Printed in the EU Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 –1921) LC 7038 DDD TT 101:08 Recorded in 24-bit/96kHz Hansel and Gretel Märchenspiel (fairy-tale) in three acts Libretto by Adelheid Wette after a fairy-tale by the Brothers Grimm, English translation by David Pountney Hansel Gretel, his sister Gertrude, their Mother Peter, their Father The Witch The Dew Fairy The Sandman New London Children’s Choir Philharmonia Orchestra COMPACT DISC ONE TT 58:49 COMPACT DISC TWO TT 42:19 p 2007 Chandos Records Ltd c 2007 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd • Colchester • Essex • England CHAN 3143(2) CHANDOS CHAN 31432) Back Inlay.indd 1 Sir Charles Mackerras Jennifer Larmore mezzo-soprano Rebecca Evans soprano Rosalind Plowright mezzo-soprano Robert Hayward baritone Jane Henschel mezzo-soprano Sarah Tynan soprano Diana Montague mezzo-soprano SOLOISTS /PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA/ MACKERRAS ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: HANSEL AND GRETEL CHANDOS DIGITAL 30/4/07 10:10:44