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Biography
Use dmy dates|date=August 2011About||the pop singer of this name|Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)|the fictional character Prince Humperdinck|The Princess BrideInfobox person|name = Engelbert Humperdinck|image = Humperdinck Postcard-1910.jpg|image_size =|caption = Engelbert Humperdinck|birth_name =|birth_date = birth date|df=y|1854|09|01|birth_place = Siegburg |death_date = death date and age|df=y|1921|09|27|df=y|1854|09|01|death_place = Neustrelitz |death_cause =|resting_place =|resting_place_coordinates =|residence =|nationality = German|other_names =|known_for = Hänsel und Gretel (opera)|Hänsel und Gretel |education =|alma_mater =|employer =|occupation = Composer|home_town =|title =|salary =|networth =|height =|weight =|term =|predecessor =|successor =|party =|boards =|religion =|spouse =|partner =|children =|parents =|relatives =|signature =|website =|footnotes =Engelbert Humperdinck (IPA-de|'??l?b??t 'h?mp?d??k; 1 September 1854 – 27 September 1921) was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel (opera)|Hänsel und Gretel . Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; he died at the age of 67 in Neustrelitz , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Life
After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition at the age of seven. His first attempts at works for the stage were two Singspiel|Singspiele written when he was 13. His parents disapproved of his plans for a career in music and encouraged him to study architecture. Nevertheless, he began taking music classes under Ferdinand Hiller at the Cologne Conservatory in 1872. In 1876, he won a scholarship that enabled him to go to Munich, where he studied with Franz Lachner and later with Josef Rheinberger . In 1879, he won the first Mendelssohn Scholarship|Mendelssohn Award given by the Mendelssohn Scholarship|Mendelssohn Stiftung (foundation) in Berlin. He went to Italy and became acquainted with Richard Wagner in Naples. Wagner invited him to join him in Bayreuth Festspielhaus|Bayreuth and during 1880 and 1881 Humperdinck assisted in the production of Parsifal . He also served as music tutor to Wagner's son, Siegfried Wagner|Siegfried .
After winning another prize, he traveled through Italy, France, and Spain and spent two years teaching at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu|Gran Teatre del Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona. In 1887, he returned to Cologne. He was appointed professor at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1890 and also teacher of harmony at Julius Stockhausen 's Vocal School. By this time he had composed several works for chorus and a Humoreske for orchestra, which enjoyed a vogue in Germany.
Hänsel und Gretel
His reputation rests chiefly on his opera Hänsel und Gretel (opera)|Hänsel und Gretel , which he began work on in Frankfurt in 1890.Plaque: Scheffelstraße 1, Frankfurt am Main: "In this house in the years 1891 and 1892 Engelbert Humperdinck composed the Opera Hänsel und Gretel ." He first composed four songs to accompany a puppet show his nieces were giving at home. Then, using a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette rather loosely based on the version of the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm , he composed a Singspiel of 16 songs with piano accompaniment and connecting dialogue. By January 1891 he had begun working on a complete orchestration.
The opera premiered in Weimar on 23 December 1893, under the baton of Richard Strauss , who called it "a masterpiece of the highest quality... all of it original, new, and so authentically German." With its highly original synthesis of Wagnerian techniques and traditional German folk songs, Hänsel und Gretel was an instant and overwhelming success.
Hänsel und Gretel has always been Humperdinck's most popular work. In 1923 the Royal Opera House (London) chose it for their first complete radio opera broadcast. Eight years later, it was the first opera transmitted live from the Metropolitan Opera (New York). It remains a worldwide favorite.
Later career
In 1896 the Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser made Humperdinck a Professor and he went to live at Boppard . Four years later, however, he went to Berlin where he was appointed head of a Meister-Schule of composition. Among his other stage works are:
Die sieben Geißlein ( The Seven Little Kids ), 1895
Königskinder (''King's Children ), 1897, 1910
Dornröschen ( Sleeping Beauty ), 1902
Die Heirat wider Willen ( The Reluctant Marriage ), 1905
Bübchens Weihnachtstraum ( The Christmas Dream ), 1906
Die Marketenderin ( The Provisioner ), 1914
Gaudeamus: Szenen aus dem deutschen Studentenleben ( Gaudeamus igitur: Scenes from German Student Life ), 1919
While composing those works, Humperdinck held various teaching positions of distinction and collaborated in the theater, providing incidental music for a number of Max Reinhardt 's productions in Berlin, for example, for William Shakespeare|Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice in 1905.J. L. Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 3 Expressionism and Epic Theatre (Cambridge University Press, 1983), p.& nbsp;65
Though recognized as a disciple of Wagner rather than an innovator, he was nevertheless the first composer to use Sprechgesang —a vocal technique halfway between singing and speaking used later by Arnold Schoenberg —in his melodrama Die Königskinder (1897).
In 1914, Humperdinck seems to have applied for the post of director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia, but with the outbreak of World War I it became unthinkable for a German to hold that position, and the job went instead to Belgium's Henri Verbrugghen . http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-27982137_ITM "Popper in Australasia, 1937–1945", Quadrant (magazine)|Quadrant (June 2000) at www.accessmylibrary.com Also in 1914, Humperdinck signed the Manifesto of the Ninety-Three , declaring support for German military actions during early World War I. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25122278 Professors of Germany. "To the Civilized World". North American Review , Vol. 210, No. 765 (Aug., 1919), pp. 284–287 Subscription
On 5 January 1912, Humperdinck suffered a severe stroke. Though he recovered, his left hand remained permanently paralyzed. He continued to compose, completing Gaudeamus with the help of his son, Wolfram in 1918. On 26 September 1921, Humperdinck attended a performance of Carl Maria von Weber 's Der Freischütz in Neustrelitz , Wolfram's first effort as a stage director. He suffered a heart attack during the performance and died the next day from a second heart attack. The Berlin State Opera performed Hänsel und Gretel in his memory a few weeks later.
Persondata|NAME = Humperdinck, Engelbert |ALTERNATIVE NAMES = |SHORT DESCRIPTION = German composer |DATE OF BIRTH = 1 September 1854 |PLACE OF BIRTH = Siegburg, Rhine Province |DATE OF DEATH = 27 September 1921 |PLACE OF DEATH = Neustrelitz
DEFAULTSORT:Humperdinck, Engelbert Category:1854 births Category:1921 deaths Category:People from Siegburg Category:German composers Category:Opera composers Category:Opera librettists Category:People from the Rhine Province Category:Romantic composers Category:Alumni of the Cologne University of Music
