Hansel and Gretel (opera) After several revisions, the musical sketches and the songs were turned into a full-scale opera. Humperdinck composed "Hansel and Gretel" in Frankfurt in 1891 and 1892. The opera was first performed in Hoftheater in Weimar on 23 December 1893, conducted by Richard Strauss. It has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances and today it is still most often performed at Christmas time. "Hansel and Gretel" was first conducted in Weimar by Richard Strauss in 1893, followed by its Hamburg premiere on 25 September 1894, conducted by Gustav Mahler. Its first performance outside Germany was in Basel, Switzerland, on
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,