Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera Hansel and Gretel is one of the hits
of the operatic repertoire, the opera The King’s Children can at least be heard
now and again. The rest of Humperdinck’s vocal works however enjoy a
niche market. This double-CD set includes the complete oeuvre for a singing
voice and the piano. This includes numerous Christmas songs, songs based on
children’s rhymes and songs based on lyrical texts from poets in Humperdinck’s
vicinity. It is the early songs, until ca. 1890, that demonstrate the great admiration
of the composer for Richard Wagner, who studied under Hiller in Cologne
and under Lachner and Rheinberger in Munich. The convergence with the style
of the folk song and its unostentatious diction explains the great popularity of
many of the songs, which also appear as adaptations for choirs, orchestras and
chamber ensembles.
The present recording is based on a new musicological edition that was
prepared by the Music Work Shop of Engelbert Humperdinck in Siegburg.