“Sandman’s Aria, Evening Prayer, & Dream Pantomime” from Hansel & Gretel - Humperdinck

Civic Orchestra of Jacksonville - A Winter’s Eve- December 9, 2018 Terry Concert Hall, Jacksonville University
Conductor Marguerite Bradford Richardson
civicorchestra...
“Sandman’s Aria, Evening Prayer, & Dream Pantomime” from Hansel & Gretel - Humperdinck
Why is it, that for more than a century, Christmastime theatrical entertainment has features an opera in which siblings who have gotten lost in the forest discover a magical gingerbread house inhabited by a strange old woman who (as it happens) adds to that house’s structure and decor by baking children in her kitchen oven? The short answer: that opera resulted from a gift for a family Christmas party. In anticipation of her family’s annual holiday gathering, Adelheid Humperdinck Wette had penned lyrics for four songs. Her two daughters were willing to sing them. But songs need catchy tunes. Would her salted composer-brother, Engelbert Humperdinck, oblige? He would! But, he said, since the songs were based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, why not use music to tell that whole story? So, quickly, Adelheid wrote the libretto, Engelbert created the score, the girls learned their parts, the day for the party arrived, and the musical gift was delivered!
So delighted was his family with the Christmas party singspiel that Humperdinck-a student of Richard Wagner-decided to expand it into a full opera with gorgeous melodies, lush orchestral scoring, a scary villain, and a happy ending! The result: Hansel and Gretel, which was premiered in Weimar (Germany) on December 23, 1893-and has remained popular ever since!
We perform a portion from Act II. The children have irked their mother. In retribution, she has sent them into the forest to gather berries. But now, night is falling, the children cannot find the way back to their cottager, and they are frightened. A mysterious man appears to them, reassures them, and sprinkles magic sand (a sleeping potion) in their eyes. (In our performance, the oboe “sings” this.) Thus calmed, the children say their traditional bedtime prayer, asking for the protection of “fourteen angels,” then settle into slumber. (This stately hymn is carried by the strings.) Colorful dream ensue (which, in a stage production, would appear to the audience as a ballet). Note how the “Prayer” tune expands, then gives way to, and intertwines with phrases of the “Sandman” tune. The music becomes more urgent, until-sounded by the brass-the “Prayer” tune returns grandly, then melts into a final “Amen.”
Program Notes
Lucinda Mosher, Th. D.

[@Ari-vk1lx]

Superb. And to see people of color represented warms my heart as a black man. Thank you all for a wonderful performance

[@tiborfazekas7475]

Brüsszel alázatos szolgái rulez i guess