Humperdinck, ENGELBERT

Humperdinck, ENGELBERT, composer, was born at Siegburg, near Bonn, 1st September 1854; and after studying music at Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, &c., and travels in France, Spain, and Italy, taught in the conservatoriums of Barcelona and Cologne, and was musical adviser to a publishing firm in Mainz. Wagner summoned him to assist in the production of that master's only symphony; and it was he who prepared and coached the first cast of Parsifal at Baireuth (1882). He subsequently settled in Frankfurt (1890), and became famous as the author of the phenomenally successful children's opera or musical fairy play, Hänsel und Gretel (1894), which was followed by Schneewittchen ('The Snow Maiden') and The Royal Children.