When Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy tale opera Hänsel und Gretel was premiered on 23 December 1893 in Weimar conducted by Richard Strauss, the work could look back on an extensive history of origin.

Humperdinck's younger sister Adelheid Wette (born in 1858) had displayed a great interest in literature in her youth and written a variety of poems for special occasions. In 1888, she wrote a fairy tale entitled Schneewittchen [Snow White] and her brother supplied some songs for this piece. Further...