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Author
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Comment
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Woodbutcher
Unregistered User
(11/16/02 1:01:05 pm)
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Snow White- musical fantasy by Humperdinck
A friend is interested in finding a recording or score or libretto of a musical fantasy by the classical composer Englebert Humperdinck. Does anybody know anything about this please?
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(11/16/02 3:35:52 pm)
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Not exactly, but...
Hi, I have tried some search-engines but most sites come up with "Hänsel und Gretel" only. Several cite a few more operas, e.g. the New York City Opera:
www.nycopera.com/www/lear...poserID=22
Among those are "Dornröschen"=Sleeping beauty and "Die sieben Geislein", another Grimm fairy tale (Seven goats?). I do not know about the plot of "Königskinder".
I have found some German sites, too, but again only very few show the operas above. None of the sites I found have anything on Snowwhite, either in English or German.
Maybe - and this is just a question - your friend was looking for Hänsel und Gretel? It is the most popular by far (and, by the way, the standard choice for a Christmas-Musical at any given German Theater or Opera).
Hope I could at least give you a new lead!
Best regards, Lotti
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Woodbutcher
Unregistered User
(11/17/02 3:37:21 pm)
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Snow White
Thank you for your help. It is definitely Snow White & not Hansel & Gretel. He found a reference to the work in a Biographical dictionary entry on Humperdinck.
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Helen
Registered User
(11/17/02 3:53:30 pm)
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Hmmm ...
Well, according to _The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales_, Humperdinck wrote "Parsifal," "Hansel und Gretel," Die Seiben Geisslein," (The Seven Little Kids) "Konigskindur," (The Royal Children) and "Dornroschen," (Sleeping Beauty). The entry says that his "greatest significant accomplishment was the creation of the ... German Romantic fairy-tale opera." "The Royal Children" is noted to combine motifs from different tales ... perhaps that might be a topic worth exploring. Good luck!
Best,
Helen
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/17/02 8:17:53 pm)
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Musical references
Have you looked at the Oxford Dictionary of Music or Groves (not sure if it a "dictionary" or "encyclopedia"). There is a new edition of Groves out too.
Humperdinck also wrote song cycles based on folk tunes originally. Perhaps the Snow White reference is to a song as opposed to an opera.
Jess
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/17/02 8:31:42 pm)
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FYI
There is no reference to a Snow White work by Humperdinck in The Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music.
My copy of Grout's "A Short History of Opera" (second edition 1965) has a nice, albeit brief, discussion of Fairy tale inspired operas of the late Romantic period on pages 450-453. There is no mention of a Snow White. There is a reference to a biography of Humperdinck by Otto Besch, Englebert Humperdinck, Leipzig, B&H, 1914.
Hope this helps.
Jess
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/17/02 8:52:13 pm)
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Snow White
Your friend might be interested to know that Heinz Holliger has an opera based on Snow White (and now that I know of it, I am dying to hear it). There is a recording available on Amazon. Considering that it is Holliger though, it is a sure bet to be far from a "Romantic" opera.
Jess
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(11/18/02 12:37:12 am)
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Re: Snow White
Knowing that I have found many errors in reference books, perhaps the biographical dictionary is wrong. "Dornroschen" (Sleeping Beauty) might have been incorrectly translated as Snow White, for example. After all, there are sleeping beauties in both of them. Seems strange that no other reference source would list Snow White.
Heidi
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Woodbutcher
Unregistered User
(11/18/02 1:05:45 pm)
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'Schnee-Wittchen'
Well, I am amazed at such a response to my query, many thanks to all of you!!
I'm not sure which Dictionary of Biography it was, Collins or Macmillan I think, not a specialist music one. It was listed as "Schnee-Wittchen" composed in 1897.
I will have to ask more about the entry when next I see him.
Thanks again, I will pass on all your answers.
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/18/02 3:29:36 pm)
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schnee wittchen
That would translate to Snow White - the same title is used for
the Hollinger opera. 1897 is one year before Konigskinder (1898)
. Hmmm. This predates several "students" of Humperdinck,
i.e., Siegfried Wagner and Zollner. I would have your friend check
Groves - definitely. I am sorry I don't have a copy to do it for
you.
Jess
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/18/02 3:47:47 pm)
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Another search idea
I tried this on google with no results, but you might try it elsewhere (like a real library). The genre of fairytale opera is called Marchenoper (umlauts over the a).
Hope this helps.
Jess
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Woodbutcher
Unregistered User
(11/20/02 1:03:55 pm)
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Snow White
I had a quick look in the real library yesterday but couldn't find any reference to S-W in a book on opera. I will definitely have to get a look at the entry in the Biographical dictionary myself.
Thanks for your continued interest!
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Woodbutcher
Unregistered User
(11/22/02 12:15:41 pm)
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Seen it in the book
Well, I saw the entry in Chambers Dictionary of Biography and Schneewittchen is definitely mentioned, so where have they got that from? I think further research is called for. All contributions gratefully accepted & our thanks for all the help & suggestions received so far.
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/22/02 3:42:38 pm)
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Are you sure it is an opera?
Perhaps it is a song cycle or something else? What all did it say? This is perplexing (here I thought I knew how to research music references). Did you try Groves? What exactly are you looking for?
Also, have you contacted any organizations/museums re: Humperdinck? I think there is at least one.
Jess
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/23/02 9:04:33 am)
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I thought I had written
If you live near a university/college with a good music program,
you might try contacting the music librarian for assistance. Otherwise,
try Indiana University or Illinois. I know Illinois has tons of
scores - an unbelievable collection. gateway.library.uiuc.edu/mux/
Jess
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bielie
Unregistered User
(11/27/02 1:39:48 pm)
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Hansel und Gretel, and a frisky witch.
I saw a production of Hansel und Gretel in the state opera in Hannover on Friday. Now tell me, why does the witch always get all the applause, even if her vocal abilities is not always the best?
I must say, this particular witch was quite frisky, but other less energetic ones also got the bows.
Maybe we all love a good villain? Any Freudian clues?
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Judith
Berman
Registered User
(11/27/02 6:51:51 pm)
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Humperdinck
My Groves mentions six Humperdinck operas and several other major orchestral and choral works, none of them SW, but it also refers in only general terms to his "large quantity of music in the smaller forms, for male or mixed choirs." So maybe SW is to be found there.
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