Opera and kids
Yesterday I went to a performance of a highly condensed (one hour long) English-langauge version of the opera “Hansel and Gretel” at Boston’s Wheelock Family Theater.
I was one of the only people in the crowd without a child or two in tow. The entire theater was alive with squirmy little ones, but I was happy to see that so many parents remain willing to take their kids to such old-fashioned dinosaur-type entertainment, and for the most part the kids were able to concentrate on it and seemed to enjoy it.
Why did I go? I’ve long had a fondness for that particular opera. Despite its childish orientation, its music is very beautiful. When I was little we learned some of the songs in first or second grade, although I had no idea of their operatic origins and didn’t become aware of them till years later when I happened to take my own child to a production and was surprised and delighted to hear the familiar tunes.
I loved the songs so much as a child that every time we had music class I was hoping they’d have us sing them again. But alas, it was rare that they ever came up, and I never thought to make a request.
Now I can listen whenever I want, courtesy of YouTube. It’s a peculiarity of the opera that the roles of the children are not only sung by two adults but by two women, with a mezzo soprano dressed as Hansel. It’s a bit weird, but once you accept the convention it works.
Here’s a beautiful concert version sans costumes, in which Kathleen Battle seems to have been overwhelmed by her own voluminous sleeves. They are singing the Prayer Song, one of those I learned so long ago, except that they are singing in the original German rather than English:
Although the opera’s composer Englebert Humperdinck created a lot of other music, it’s “Hansel and Gretel” that made his name (which, by the way, was stolen in the 60s by this strange guy). The opera was popular from the start, and incorporates lovely folk tunes into a powerful almost-Wagnerian orchestration. The libretto was written, appropriately enough, by Humperdinck’s sister:
In the 1890s, [Englebert Humperdinck’s] sister, Adelheid Wette, had written a libretto based on the Grimm fairy tale, and asked her brother to set it to music as a Christmas entertainment for her children. Later, Engelbert and Adelheid decided to turn this modest home project into a full-scale opera. Hansel and Gretel premiered on December 23, 1893 at Weimar. It was an instant hit and remains an everlasting masterpiece. The composer Richard Strauss, who was the assistant conductor for the premiere, called it “a masterwork of the first rank.”
If it’s good enough for Richard Strauss, it’s good enough for me.
This is so beautiful. Thank you for this.
What a gift you are, Neo. I sang and loved this song at an old-fashioned girls’ summer camp decades ago, and never knew it was from an opera. How lovely, and what memories it brings.
Saw my first opera at the NY Metroplitan last month. La traviata….and it was all I could have hoped for!
I worked as an education director at the Met Opera for a number of years. We invited students from the five boroughs to come to dress rehearsals throughout the season, after their teachers prepared them with study materials provided by me. I remember one season when Hansel und Gretel was in the repertory, and perhaps due to the familiar title, schools raced to sign up to attend the rehearsal. Unfortunately, in some cases, there were teachers who assumed that they knew the story and that was enough. There were even some teachers that thought the music was written by the 60’s Tom Jones/Vegas ripoff performer of the same name. Thankfully (and as Neo mentioned) the opera score is beautiful, highly accessible and truly suitable for all ages, so despite the initial ignorance, both students and teachers left with a better understanding of the opera.
I am grateful to you, Neo, for reminding me of the lovely and extremely gifted Frederica von Stade. I saw an interview with her many years ago and I was struck by her grace, beauty and enormous talent.
As a child,I too learned and sang the Prayer song in English. I sang it for my children and now sing it for my grandchildren.
By the way, when I grown up I want to sing opera. Maris Callas, Monserrat Caballe, move over.
Beautiful. Thank you so much for posting this.
Love opera, though this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX1ljYx3g3k) was my introduction. I think I got the better deal and suspect the kids would agree.
Anyway, that was then, this is now and possibly less meaningful for children though good for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YNvMlG2TZE
And I still can’t figure out how poor tubercular Mimi can deliver such a wonderful aria…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wamT6hg7z4A
Hey, are you dissing MY Engelbert from the 60’s? I loved his songs, they were perfect for singing with a guitar on the way home from youth activities when everyone was all tired out and mellow. I even own a “best of” CD and I still know all the words. Did you see that his “Release Me” stopped “Strawberry Fields” from being #1 on the British pop charts? And “Last Waltz” is a classic.
So careful who you’re calling “strange”!
In your defense ( because I can’t stay mad at you for long) he may have been more of an English phenomenon than American.
Lovely — thank you! If you love mezzo sopranos, I recommend Elina Garanca, who sang “Carmen” last year with Roberto Alagna at the Met (now on DVD). Also check her out on YouTube with soprano Anna Netrebko as they sing from Tales of Hoffman and from Lakme.
My HTML skills are not up to par. Check out Garanca/Netrebko singing “Barcarolle” from “Tales of Hoffmann” and “The Flower Duet” from “Lakme.”
I just came back from a Peter Sellars production of Hercules by Handel. Once again I was shown the fact that the Left hates heroes and wants to tear them down wherever possible.
In this production, Hercules is an American general who suffers PST. He brings back a beautiful captive dressed like the Abu Graib scandal prisoners. So we know that Handel was against the war in Iraq, because Abu Graib scandal = Iraq War.
Also, we should all be concerned about our damaged veterans because that’s what veterans are–damaged people. The Left LOVES victims.
When Hercules’s wife becomes jealous of the beautiful captive, she tries to renew Hercules’s love by giving him a poisoned shirt. Hercules is a victim because he’s not interested in his wife anymore.
***************
What a ridiculous take on this story. I don’t see how Abu Graib or the Iraq War pertains to anything. Hercules brought home a beautiful slave because that’s what heroes did in the olden days. His wife was right to try to use magic, but unfortunately she made a terrible mistake using the wrong magic.
THAT’s the tragedy, not that heroes get PST.
I’m disgusted, but of course my liberal and ignorant friends thought it was all wonderful. I hope Peter Sellars has a learning experience with a jihadist some day so we can see how heroic and cutting edge he is then.
GRRRRR.
Down with
Sorry if the above was OT.
Incomplete post above. I meant . . .
DOWN WITH stupid liberal interpretations of wars they know nothing about. They’re too lazy to learn useful information because it doesn’t fit the narrative.
The original story was terrific. The revised story was silly.
I still can’t believe they made Glinda the Good Witch a “Meangirl” in that piece of trash, “Wicked”!
You would THINK they could at least leave the Wizard of Oz alone — but NO. Most obnoxious of all, they attributed the Wicked Witch’s problems entirely to her skin color. Because, Lord knows, there’s no such thing as evil.
They satirize themselves. It’s a wonder The Onion can stay in business.
And Peter Sellars is a self-important buffoon.
Thank you for this video, Neo. I have an ancient cassette tape of this concert and the prayer is my favorite. FvS was, imo, the acme of pants parts singers. Will never be matched.
Just watched the Covent Garden production of H&G on blu-ray. Great singing and acting, especially Diana Damrau as Gretel. The production had two ghastly staging flaws. The witch first appears with enormous fake breasts jutting out from her dress. Not pretty and not suitable for kinderlein. Then, in the witches kitchen scene, the pantry is full of children hanging on meathooks. That would scare the bejeezus out of das kinderlein.
Why do directors do these things? They must know children would be flocking to see Hansel and Gretel.
Though long a fan of classical music, I have always kept a certain distance from opera, though that’s beginning to change. The one work that turned me around was another fairy tale opera: The Cunning Little Vixen by Leos Janacek. It’s a stunningly beautiful piece. I can’t help but wonder if the kiddies would like that one?
Marine’s Mom Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
I knew that “Strawberry Fields Forever” only made it to #2 in 1967. It was the first Beatles single that failed to reach #1 on the British charts since “Please Please Me” in 1963.
I didn’t know Englebert Humperdinck was responsible for that.
I saw a university student production of Hansel and Gretel last year, loved it, and wondered why it isn’t performed more often.
BTW, you should actually blame the British music promoter Gordon Mills for applying the Engelbert Humperdinck monicker to Gerry Dorsey, a baritone crooner he was managing. The same manager had renamed Tom Woodward as Tom Jones just after the movie based on the Henry Fielding novel came out. Later he rebranded a singer named Raymond Sullivan as Gilbert O’Sullivan. A serial offender, to say the least.