Opera in German were usually based on stories from Germanic or Arthurian legend. Finally, Wagner built his own opera house at Bayreuth, exclusively dedicated to performing his own works in the style he wanted. Wagner's innovations cast an immense shadow over subsequent composers, who struggled to absorb his influence while retaining their own individuality. One of the most successful composers of the following generation was Humperdinck, whose "Hänsel und Gretel" (1893) still has an assured place in the standard repertoire. Humperdinck turned back to folk song and the tales of the Brothers Grimm for inspiration. Yet, though "Hänsel" is often viewed as the
Jacobowsky und der Oberst (opera) Jacobowsky und der Oberst (opera) Jacobowsky und der Oberst, Op. 49, ("Jacobovsky and the Colonel") is an opera in four acts by Giselher Klebe who also wrote the libretto based on the 1944 play of the by Franz Werfel. It premiered on 2 November 1965 at the Hamburg State Opera which had commissioned the work. Klebe dedicated it to the then director of the Staatsoper, Rolf Liebermann. Time and place: 1940, Paris, St. Cyrill, Bayonne and Saint-Jean-de-Luz The first American performance was on 27 June 1967 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, using the same cast, conducted by Matthias Kuntzsch.