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".
Fierrabras (opera) Fierrabras (opera) Fierrabras, 796, is a three-act German opera with spoken dialogue written by the composer Franz Schubert in 1823, to a libretto by , the general manager of the Theater am Kärntnertor (Vienna's Court Opera Theatre). Along with the earlier "Alfonso und Estrella", composed in 1822, it marks Schubert's attempt to compose grand Romantic opera in German, departing from the Singspiel tradition. The Kärntnertor Theater in 1822 commissioned operas from Schubert and Carl Maria von Weber in a drive to increase the number of German operas in repertoire. Schubert fulfilled his commission with "Fierrabras", von Weber his with "Euryanthe".