The world premiere of "Hänsel und Gretel", 1893
One of the most performed operas in the German repertoire was heard for the first time in Weimar, conducted by a 29-year-old assistant Kapellmeister.
In 1893 the Weimar court theatre gave the first performance anywhere of Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel". The conductor was Richard Strauss, then in his fourth year as the house's second Kapellmeister.
A small house with the right conductor
The premiere came to Weimar through Strauss. He had arrived in 1889 as the house's second Kapellmeister and stayed until 1894, and in that short window the theatre gave the first performance of Humperdinck's opera and, the following year, of Strauss's own first opera "Guntram"[1] — two world premieres in two years from a court theatre in a town of a few thousand people.
What that means when you stand outside the theatre
It happened in the earlier building. The theatre on the Theaterplatz today was commissioned in 1906 and inaugurated in 1908,[2] so the hall that first heard "Hänsel und Gretel" is not the building standing today, just as with the "Lohengrin" premiere of 1850. What survives on the square is the institution and the orchestra.
Sources (2)
- Die Staatskapelle Weimar — das Orchester — Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
- Geschichte des Deutschen Nationaltheaters — Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
Historical figures
Historical figures
1864–1949 • composer • conductor
He conducted the premiere in his fourth year as the house's second Kapellmeister, a year before the first performance of his own "Guntram" on the same stage.
Historic sites
Historic sites
Theaterplatz 2, 99423 Weimar
The premiere was given by this house, then the Hoftheater, in the building that preceded the present one.
Period
1832–1918
The last great musical event of the period, forty-three years after the "Lohengrin" premiere and in the same institution.