Bella Alten operatic career included six Metropolitan premiere performances – Adele in Die Fledermaus (1905), Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (1905), Saffi in Der Zigeunerbaron (1906), Olga in Fedora (1906), Columbina in Le Donne Curiose (1912), and Lisetta in L'amore Medico (1914). In November 1905 when she sang Gretel in the premiere Metropolitan performance of Hänsel und Gretel, the composer Engelbert Humperdinck was in the audience. This opera received 11 performances that first season and was selected by Theodore Roosevelt's wife as a benefit for the Legal Aid Society. Alten sang Gretel in this opera every season she was with the Met
Wilhelm Busch unknown artist without regular income. In his early Munich years Busch's attempts to write libretti, which are almost forgotten today, were unsuccessful. Up to 1863 he worked on two or three major works; the third was composed by Georg Kremplsetzer. Busch's "Liebestreu und Grausamkeit", a romantic opera in three acts, "Hansel und Gretel" and "Der Vetter auf Besuch", an opera buffa of sorts, were not particularly successful. There was a dispute between Busch and Kremplsetzer during the staging of "Der Vetter auf Besuch", leading to the removal of Busch's name from the production; the piece was renamed "Singspiel von Georg