A gigantic success story – Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera Hänsel und Gretel has been delighting young and old alike for exactly 120 years. To celebrate this special anniversary, the opera now for the first time is being released on a brand-new double SACD featuring an especially authentic production. Since the Weimar Theater was the site of the work’s acclaimed premiere, and it has enjoyed an unbroken performance tradition there, the conductor Martin Hoff and his highly motivated team were able to draw on the historical performance material.

The performance tradition has continued in Weimar ever since the celebrated premiere in 1893 with Richard Strauss as the conductor. The original orchestral parts of the premiere are still extant and carefully guarded. The German National Theater and the Weimar State Orchestra thus may rightly claim a special authenticity.