Hansel and Gretel (opera) Hansel and Gretel (opera) Hansel and Gretel (German: ) is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a "" (fairy-tale opera). The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel". It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the "" ("Evening Benediction") from act 2. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on "Hansel and Gretel".
Liebe und Eifersucht which became a major influence on the development of German Romantic opera. He wrote his own libretto for the earlier work "Liebe und Eifersucht", based on August Wilhelm Schlegel's translation of a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, "La banda y la flor" ("The Scarf and the Flower"). Hoffmann composed the opera in 1807. The opera was not performed in Hoffmann's lifetime. It was first published by Schott in 1999. and premiered at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele on 27 July 2008, at the Forum am Schlosspark in Ludwigsburg, in a coproduction with the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where it