DVD Videos

Tenor superstar Jonas Kaufmann leads the cast in the first-ever DVD release of the beautiful fairytale opera from the composer of Hänsel und Gretel.

The German tenor is “the fairytale prince of most opera-goers’ dreams – young, reckless, beautiful” (Financial Times), and Isabel Rey is the Goosegirl star in the acclaimed Zurich production of Humperdinck’s magical opera

Königskinder – a story of love tested beyond endurance – premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1910. Humperdinck’s setting of the modern fairytale saw him further develop the musical language of his much-loved Hänsel und Gretel. Königskinder is enjoying a revival in popularity with productions planned in several major European houses

Bringing together a collection of arias and choruses from some of the world’s favourite operas, this disc showcases the outstanding artists and productions from the stage of the Royal Opera House.

The perfect gift for anyone who loves opera.

A unique collection from one of the world’s finest opera houses, showcasing the international opera stars and famous Royal Opera House productions.

The comprehensive packaging will include a synopsis of each opera, suggestions for further exploration of the catalogue and full subtitles.

International stars featured in the collection include: Jonas Kaufmann, Renee Fleming, Simon Keenlyside, Gerald Finley and Miah Persson.

Running time: 80 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/JP/ES

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Set Design and Costumes by Maurice Sendak.

Humperdinck‘s opera is steeped in the guileless world of folk-song: the children‘s songs and dances, the idyllic forest scenes, the supernatural material and the central thematic chorale are all rooted in German traditional music.

Frank Corsaro’s production for Zurich Opera was designed by Maurice Sendak. They have worked together on numerous highly-acclaimed opera stagings, all noted for their striking visual impact.

Sendak is renowned world-wide for his classic children’s books. His vivid, magical and often disturbing imagery is perfect for the fairy-tale world of Hänsel und Gretel. He expands the Witch’s gingerbread cottage into an entire farmyard of sweetmeats, complete with windmill. The house has a life of its own, with menacing, glowing eyes, which also dominate the stage during the ‘Witch’s Ride’ interlude.

This production of Humperdinck’s endearing and musically adroit opera will entrance adults and children alike.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 105 mins

FSK: 0

The Met’s classic storybook staging as performed on Christmas Day 1982

“No singers today play Hansel and Gretel more convincingly or sing them more enchantingly [than Frederica von Stade and Judith Blegen].” – New York Daily News

This classic Met production “cheerfully evokes a magic world of woodland sprites and candy dreams,” wrote the New York Post reviewer, praising Elias’s “broadly comic witch,” Blegen’s “merry and nimble” Gretel, and von Stade’s “vocal majesty and dramatic integrity” as Hansel. “Even the sourest Scrooge or Grinch,” said the New York Times, “would have to smile when the witch is bested (and basted) and the stage suddenly fills with her revived victims: a beaming bevy of children in dapper folk-tale costume.”

Diana Damrau and Angelika Kirchschlager star in the acclaimed 2008 production of Humperdinck’s famous fairytale opera, in the company of two of Britain’s most revered musical figures: Thomas Allen, playing the role of the Father, and the legendary conductor Colin Davis. Directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser combine their characteristic wit and a dash of deliciously dark comedy with the opera’s fairytale charm. Humperdinck’s music mixes catchy folk-like songs with sumptuous instrumental colour, making the result as tunefully approachable, musically memorable and visually delightful as opera gets. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in full Surround Sound.

‘Angelika Kirchschlager’s tousled, boyish Hänsel and Diana Damrau’s Gretel are dramatically convincing and vocally superb, while their parents, excellently sung and played by Elizabeth Connell and Thomas Allen, earn our sympathy as well as our censure. Pumeza Matshikiza’s goblin-like Sandman is truly magical and Anita Watson’s feather-dusting Dew Fairy another amusing creation. Colin Davis, unafraid to relish the icing on the cake, draws a warm, effulgent sound from the orchestra.’ Evening Standard

Bonus material:

Illustrated synopsis & animated cast gallery.

Interview with Colin Davis.

Fairytales feature.

Cinema trailer.

Laurent Pelly (stage production)

A brand new, striking production of one of the most popular of operas: the only modern version of Humperdinck's classic in the Universal DVD catalogue

The first Hansel & Gretel DVD on Decca: Laurent Pelly's striking new production of Humperdinck's enduringly popular masterpiece.

The performance comes from Glyndebourne, where the production premiered in 2008. The singing and ensemble from the Glyndebourne cast is outstanding and received excellent reviews.

Laurent Pelly updates the action to the modern day, with the family living in a cardboard box and the witch's gingerbread house represented as the sweets and chocolate aisle of a supermarket! This makes for a striking twist on the traditional children's story.

Filmed in High Definition with substantial bonus - a 38 minute documentary including interviews with the cast, conductor and director.

Hänsel und Gretel is a fairy-tale opera (Märchenspiel) by Engelbert Humperdinck to a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on „Hänsel and Gretel.“ After several revisions, the musical sketches and the songs were turned into a full-scale opera.

Hänsel und Gretel has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances, and it is often performed at Christmas time. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the prayer from act II. A family classic, it grew out of a set of incidental music and, written between 1890 and 1893, it was fi rst performed on 23 December 1893 under Richard Strauss in Weimar. The form in which the story is used in the opera derives from the collection of Ludwig Bechstein. Gertrud, the desperate mother, sends her hungry children into the wood to pick strawberries, unaware of the danger to which she exposes them until Peter, the broombinder, returns and is shocked at what she has done; both anxious parents immediately set out to fi nd them. The thoroughly happy ending introduces another signifi cant variation to the familiar version of the brothers J. and W. Grimm.

“Markus L. Frank and the Anhalt Philharmonic bring out the truly magical yearning in Humperdinck’s music so beautifully that this alone should be enough to draw audiences to the Anhalt Theatre.” Mitteldeutsche Zeitung

Production: Richard Jones, Set and Costume designer: John Macfarlane, Lighting designed by: Jennifer Tipton, Choreographer: Linda Dobell & Translation: David Pountney

Christine Schäfer, Alice Coote and Vladimir Jurowski triumph in Humperdinck’s first and most successful opera – filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in Hi-Definition.

This irresistibly delicious new English-language production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel is the first Metropolitan Opera : Live in High-Definition series release following EMI Classic’s recent collaboration with the Met.

The Brothers Grimm fairy tale, a timeless children’s favourite, features a sophisticated score, and this intriguing new staging will appeal to audiences of all ages.

Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer are charming as Hansel and Gretel. The role of the Witch, written for a mezzo-soprano, is sometimes sung by a tenor – as is the case in this production - with Philip Langridge in the role.

Vladimir Jurowski, one of the world’s most sought-after conductors, leads Germany’s dearest opera, with a sensitive account of Humperdinck’s enchanting score.

Hansel and Gretel is considered by many as the salvation of German opera, bringing relief from the murky Wagnerian depths of Teutonic myth and initiating a return to the shimmering world of the fairy tale.

In 1923, Hansel and Gretel became the first complete opera to be broadcast on radio from Covent Garden ; Eight years later it was the first to be broadcast from the New York Met. It is significant therefore that this is one of the eight operas chosen to be in this season’s Met HD transmissions.

Beautifully staged by Richard Jones and moodily designed by John Macfarlane, this dark and eccentric production ‘is tough and dark, sparse and savage, an exploration of deprivation, cruelty and gluttony in a contemporary always-always-land’. (Financial Times)