Dornröschen Explained

Type:Märchenoper
Image Upright:0.8
Translated Name:Sleeping Beauty
Librettist:
  • Elisabeth Ebeling
  • Bertha Lehrmann-Filhés
Language:German
Based On:Sleeping Beauty
Premiere Location:Frankfurt Opera

Dornröschen (Sleeping Beauty) is a 1902 opera by Engelbert Humperdinck. The libretto, based on the story of Sleeping Beauty, was by fairy tale writer Elisabeth Ebeling[1] and Bertha Lehrmann-Filhés, with a dialogue version by Ralf Eger who worked on Franz Lehár's operettas such as Der Zarewitsch.

Premiere

Dornröschen premiered on 11 December 1902 at the Stadttheater in Frankfurt-am-Main, with Humperdinck conducting.[2]

Principal roles with premiere cast members:

RolePremiere cast
DornröschenHedwig Schacko
DämoniaPelagie Greef-Andriessen
Prince ReinholdHeinrich Hensel
KellrmeisterAlfred Hauck
TellermeisterHermann Schramm
PatinBeatrix Kernic

Recordings

Complete opera

Incidental music

Notes and References

  1. Book: Jarvis, Shawn C. . The Queen's Mirror: Fairy Tales by German Women, 1780–1900 . 241 . Jeannine . Blackwell . 2001 . Lincoln . University of Nebraska Press . 0-8032-1299-2 . Elisabeth Ebeling was an extremely prolific writer of fairy tale literature, including plays, novellas, poems, and anthologies. Little is known about her life: the daughter of a merchant family, she traveled extensively in Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, and ....
  2. Book: Parsons, Charles H. . Mellen Opera Reference Index, Volume 13: Opera Premieres: An Index of Casts: A - L . 604 . 1992 . Lewiston, NY . . 0-88946-412-X .