Adelheid Wette Explained

Adelheid Catharina Maria Humperdinck Wette (4 September 1858 – 9 August 1916)[1] was a German author, composer, and folklorist who is best remembered today as the librettist of her brother Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel.

Life and career

Wette was born in Siegburg, Kingdom of Prussia, the youngest sister of the composer Engelbert Humperdinck.[2] Her parents were Gustav Humperdinck, a high school teacher, and Gertrud Hartmann Humperdinck, the daughter of a cantor.[3] Adelheid was very interested in reading folktales and writing poetry.[4] In 1881, she married Dr. Hermann Wette[5] who shared her interest in folktales and had himself written two libretti for the composer Arnold Mendelssohn.[6]

Every year, Adelheid Wette wrote a play for her children to perform at a family celebration.[7] In 1888, she wrote the libretto to Engelbert's singspiel Snow White.

In 1890, Adelheid wrote a version of Hansel and Gretel to be performed for her husband's birthday in May. In a letter to Engelbert in April, she asked him to compose music for five of her verses to use in the play: a cock-a-doodle-doo song (Lied); a dance song (Tanzlied); an echo song (Echolied); a forest song (Waldlied); and a lullaby (Schlummerlied). She included rhythmic suggestions for the dance song and suggested a melody of the lullaby.[8] Engelbert responded with an arrangement of songs for two voices and piano. When he adapted the folk song “Brother Come and Dance with Me” for a duet between Hänsel and Gretel in the first act, Adelheid modified the song by omitting the fifth stanza and re-arranging some lines. Over the next two years, with Adelheid and Hermann Wette's assistance, Engelbert expanded Hansel and Gretel into a fully scored opera which premiered in Weimar, Germany,[9] on 23 December 1893,[10] and remains his best-known composition.

Wette's works include:

Stage works

Poetry

Songs

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Adelheid Wette biography. 2020-09-18. last.fm.
  2. Web site: The Metropolitan Opera Guild. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200723032732/https://www.metguild.org/uploadedFiles/MOG/Opera_in_the_Classroom/Opera-Based_Learning/Pathways%20for%20Understanding_Hansel%20and%20Gretel.pdf . 2020-07-23 . 2020-09-18. www.metguild.org.
  3. Book: Wette, Adelheid 1858-1916. Hänsel und Gretel Märchenspiel in drei Bildern. Guth, Karl-Maria. 2 July 2013 . 978-3-8430-2005-3. 1. Auflage. Berlin. 968225582.
  4. Book: Fisher, Burton D.. Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. 2000-02-15. Opera Journeys Publishing. 978-1-102-00907-8.
  5. Book: Wette, Adelheid. col. 381. Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon. German Literature Lexicon. de. 31 (Werenberg–Wieding). Wilhelm Kosch. Walter de Gruyter. 2011. 9783110235722. https://books.google.com/books?id=w8banxErIYgC&q=%22Wette%2C+Adelheid%22&pg=PT170.
  6. Wette [née Humperdinck], Adelheid. Glauert. Amanda. 2002. O003525.
  7. Book: Grun, Bernard. Bernard Grun. Private Lives of the Great Composers, Conductors and Musical Artistes of the World. 1955. Library Publishers.
  8. Web site: Hänsel und Gretel. 24 July 2022. Schott Music.
  9. Web site: Hänsel und Gretel (Work – Engelbert Humperdinck/Adelheid Wette). 2020-09-18. opera-online.com.
  10. Web site: Hansel and Gretel. 2020-09-18. University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
  11. Book: Cohen, Aaron I.. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. 1987. 0-9617485-2-4. Second edition, revised and enlarged. New York. 16714846.
  12. Web site: Sammlung deutscher Gedichte 028. 2020-09-18. www.goodreads.com.
  13. Web site: Adelheid Wette. Royal Opera House. 2020-09-18.

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