Engelbert Humperdinck (composer) the Gran Teatre del Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona. In 1887, he returned to Cologne. He was appointed professor at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1890 and also teacher of harmony at Julius Stockhausen's Vocal School. By this time he had composed several works for chorus and a "Humoreske" for small orchestra, which enjoyed a vogue in Germany. Humperdinck's reputation rests chiefly on his opera "Hänsel und Gretel", which he began work on in Frankfurt in 1890. He first composed four songs to accompany a puppet show his nieces were giving at home. Then, using a libretto by his sister
Lina Abarbanell and the Metropolitan Opera House, brought Abarbanell to New York. Her American debut came that October at Irving Place in "Fruehlingsluft" ("Spring Breezes") followed a month later playing Lt. Von Vogel in "Jung Heidelberg" ("Young Heidelberg"), a comic opera with music from Carl Millöcker and book by Leopold Krenn and . Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House as Hänsel to Bella Alten's Gretel came on November 25, 1905. Over the run of "Hänsel und Gretel" the two would at times switch roles. After honing her language skills Abarbarbanell made her English-speaking debut at the Garden Theatre on Christmas Day,