Music for the Stage

Engelbert Humperdinck won a worldwide reputation through his application of Wagnerian techniques to folk music in Hänsel und Gretel. But he wrote far more widely for the stage than is acknowledged, and this selection focuses on long overlooked works that reveal Humperdinck's flair for romance, comedy and innovation. These include music for one of the first full-colour silent films, the spectacular Das Wunder (1912); the passionate, ethereal small cantata Die Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar; the rich antique flavour of Lysistrata; as well as his dance-saturated and serenely beautiful incidental music for Der Kaufmann von Venedig.