Educator’s Guide

Composite photo: Nick Heavican/Metropolitan Opera; Christine Schäfer image: Anne Deniau

Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer star as Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel

January 1, 2008
The Work
Hansel and Gretel at
Hansel and Gretel The Metropolitan Opera
Composed by
Hansel and Gretel, the opera, takes a path somewhat different
Engelbert Humperdinck
from the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale. Created by the real-life
Libretto by Adelheid Wette brother and sister Engelbert Humperdinck and Adelheid
Based on a folk tale collected by the Wette, the work infuses a familiar story with both spirituality
Brothers Grimm and grim realism. (By the way, this Engelbert Humperdinck
is not the easy-listening heartthrob of the late 1960s, but a
First performed on December 23, 1893,
in Weimar, Germany late 19th-century composer, a disciple of the hugely influential
composer, Richard Wagner.)
For all its dark magic and witchcraft, Hansel and Gretel is funda-
The Met Production mentally about the pleasures of food and the terrors of hunger as
experienced by the famous fairy-tale simblings. The Metropolitan
Vladimir Jurowski, Conductor
Opera production, conceived and directed by Richard Jones,
Richard Jones, Production enlarges upon this theme. Set design, staging, costumes, and
English version by even the curtains that fall between acts express the centrality of
David Pountney food, hunger, and gluttony to the text and score.
It’s not only Humperdinck’s catchy tunes or the universal
Starring:
Alice Coote (Hansel) themes that makes this Met production of Hansel and Gretel
Christine Schäfer (Gretel) particularly accessible to families and young people — native
Philip Langridge (The Witch) English speakers will understand every word, since this quint-
Rosalind Plowright (Gertrude) essentially German opera is performed in English translation.
Alan Held (Peter) Familiarity with the plot, characters, and some of the music
can enrich your community’s Live in HD experience. This guide
offers a variety of experiences that are designed for classroom
use that will also help generate anticipation, heighten enjoy-
ment, and promote understanding for all audiences.

The Story of
Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel have been left at home alone by their
parents. When Hansel complains to his sister that he is hungry,

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Gretel shows him some milk that a neighbor has given them
for the family’s supper. To entertain them, she begins to teach The guide includes four
her brother how to dance. Suddenly their mother returns. She types of activities
scolds the children for playing and wants to know why they • Two full-length activities are designed
have gotten so little work done. When she accidentally spills to support your ongoing curriculum.
the milk, she angrily chases the children out into the woods
• Five “Coming Attractions”— oppor-
to pick strawberries.
tunities to focus briefly on excerpts
Hansel and Gretel’s father returns home drunk. He is pleased of music from Hansel and Gretel to
because he was able to make a considerable amount of money cultivate familiarity with the work.
that day. He brings out the food he has bought and asks his
• Activities for students to enjoy during
wife where the children have gone. She explains that she has the Metropolitan Opera HD transmis-
sent them into the woods. Horrified, he tells her that the chil- sion, calling attention to special as-
dren are in danger because of the Witch who lives there. They pects of this production. Reproducible
rush off into the woods to look for them. activity sheets can be found on the last
Act II finds Gretel singing while Hansel picks strawberries. two pages of this guide.
When they hear a cuckoo calling, they imitate the bird’s call, • A post-transmission activity, integrating
eating strawberries all the while, and soon there are none left. the Live in HD experience into students’
In the sudden silence of the woods, the children realize that wider views of the performing arts.
they have lost their way and grow frightened. The Sandman
comes to bring them sleep by sprinkling sand on their eyes.
Hansel and Gretel say their evening prayer. In a dream, they
see 14 angels protecting them.
As Act III begins, the Dew Fairy appears to awaken the chil-
dren. Gretel wakes Hansel, and the two find themselves in
front of a gingerbread house. They do not notice the Witch,
who decides to fatten Hansel up so she can eat him. She immo-
bilizes him with a spell. The oven is hot, and the Witch is over-
joyed at the thought of her banquet. Gretel has overheard the
Witch’s plan, and she breaks the spell on Hansel. When the
Witch asks her to look in the oven, Gretel pretends she doesn’t
know how: the Witch must show her. When she does, peering
into the oven, the children shove her inside and shut the door.
The oven explodes, and the many gingerbread children the
Set and costume designer John Macfarlane
Witch had enchanted come back to life. Hansel and Gretel’s created extraordinary works of art as the basis
parents appear and find their children. All express gratitude for for the look of the Met´s new production of
Hansel and Gretel. His inventive sketches and
their salvation. designs are featured throughout this guide.

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 Hansel and Gretel:
On the Stage and
in the World
The activities in this guide look at several aspects of Hansel
and Gretel:
• the stark social realism, which adds heft to this fairy tale
• the composer’s use of leitmotifs, or distinct musical themes,
to guide listening and enhance understanding
• the opera as a work of art, involving a wide range of creative
decisions by the composer, the librettist, and the artists of the
Metropolitan Opera
The guide seeks not only to acquaint students with Hansel
and Gretel, but also to encourage them to think more broadly
about opera, the performing arts, and creative decision-making.
Little prior knowledge is required for the activities. If you’d
like to present Hansel and Gretel in a more formal, traditional
way, please take advantage of the introductory activity in the
companion publication, Opera: the Basics.

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Food for Thought
IN PREPARATION
A Classroom Activity
For this activity, students will need
When adolescents hear about an opera called Hansel and Gretel,
• copies of the resource on pages
they may assume it’s a story for preschoolers. Nothing could be
23-24, a synopsis of Hansel and
further from the truth. In this activity, students will hear how Gretel designed with special attention
key dramatic moments in Humperdinck’s work turn on food, to the mentions of food in the libretto
on hunger, and on gluttony. They will:
• copies of the resource on page 26,
• create a “food graph,” a visual representation of the food the Hansel and Gretel Food Graph
theme in the opera form
• figure out how to express their views on a contemporary • rulers
social issue in retelling a familiar tale
• colored pencils, pens or thin-line
• acquaint themselves with the plot and some of the music in markers
Hansel and Gretel in advance of the Met’s HD transmission.
• You will also need the accompanying
STEPS In this activity, students will create a graph relating the recording of Hansel and Gretel.
characters’ concerns about food to the more straightforward plot
of two children lost in the woods, captured by a witch, whom
they overcome thanks to their own ingenuity. Each student CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
will evaluate for him/herself the relative importance of various Language Arts, Social Studies, and
moments in the opera, so the graphs may be different from one Mathematics (graphic display of infor-
mation)
another. The point of the exercise is not for students to come
to agreement about meanings in the opera, but to hone their
individual critical approaches and to recognize the rewards of LEARNING OBJECTIVES
reflecting more closely on a work of art or literature.
• To explore the way creators express
Step 1: Discuss the opera in general terms. Ask students what social concerns through works of
they think when they hear that the opera is called Hansel and fiction
Gretel. What possible story elements come to mind? What do • To introduce the Humperdinck/Wette
they expect the tone of the opera to be? Who do they think opera as a distinct interpretation of
might be the logical audience for such an opera? List their the Hansel and Gretel story
responses on your chalkboard. • To prompt curiosity about the Met’s
approach to this opera
Step 2: Distribute the synopsis on pages 23-24. After your
students have read it, ask why Hansel and Gretel went off into
the woods. Point out that Adelheid Wette (pronounced AH-del-
hide VET-teh), who wrote the libretto, left no doubt that they’d

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 been sent out to look for food. For each of the following cases,
ask students what they hear in the music. Does the music
express what’s happening in the scene?

Play Selection A [Disc 1: Track 2:0:28-1:28]. This takes place at

the beginning of the opera. What do students hear in Hansel’s
voice? Does the music support his complaint that he and Gretel
are very hungry?

Play Selection B [Disc 1: Track 3:0:39-1:42]. Hansel learns that

their mother has obtained some milk to make rice pudding.
What do you hear in his voice?

Play Selection C [Disc 1: Track 6:0:00-1:03]. Their mother acci-

dentally breaks the milk jug, spilling all the milk.

Step 3: By now students should have a sense of the thrust of the

lesson. Ask students to make a list on a piece of paper, A through
J. For A, B, and C, have them rate each of the three selections
they’ve heard on the following five-point “food scale”:

The singer(s) is/are:

-2 Starving!
-1 Hungry
0 Satisfied
1 Full
2 Totally stuffed!

Then play each of the following selections. Students will rate

each as they hear it, jotting its score down on their A through
J list.

Selection D [Disc 1: Track 7:4:14—4:50]. Hansel and Gretel’s

father announces that he’s come home with a lot of food.

Selection E [Disc 1: Track 11:1:37—1:48]. Hansel and Gretel find

berries in the woods.

Selection F [Disc 1: Track 12:1:37—2:37]. Hansel spills the

berries.

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Selection G [Disc 1: Track 16:0:00-1:55]. They dream of a
banquet.

Selection H [Disc 2: Track 4: 0:34-2:26]. They come upon the

Witch’s house.

Selection I .[Disc 2: Track 10: 0:00-0:46]. The Witch force-

feeds Hansel.

Selection J [Disc 2: Track 13: 0:35-1:10]. The end: The Witch has
been baked into gingerbread.

Step 4: Pass out copies of the Hansel and Gretel Food Graph
form.

A) For each of the 10 musical selections, A through J, find the

point corresponding to both the event (according to the
horizontal axis) and to the student’s rating on the “food
scale” (according to the vertical axis). Mark the point on
the form.

B) Connect the points to create a “Hansel and Gretel Food

Graph.”

Step 5: Now it’s time to interpret the graph. How would students
describe the “arc of hunger” in Hansel and Gretel? How do their
graphs compare to one another? Why do they think this issue
might have been important to the composer and librettist?

FOLLOW-UP: The “Hansel and Gretel Food Graph” indicates

how important the issue of hunger, and by extension poverty,
is in this opera. For homework, have students pick a societal
concern of their own, then pick an appropriate fairy tale or
other well-known story, then write a short version of that fairy
tale expressing their feelings about the social-policy issue.

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 Making ”Leit“ of a Serious Concern
IN PREPARATION A Classroom Activity
For this activity, you will need the
In a common version of Hansel and Gretel, the two children leave
accompanying recording of Hansel
and Gretel. a trail of bread crumbs as they walk through the woods, so
that they will be able to find their way home—but they’re foiled
when birds eat all the bread crumbs. There’s no such trail in the
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS opera, but Humperdinck leaves “bread crumbs” of his own in
Music and Language Arts the form of leitmotifs—recurring bits of music associated with
particular characters or moods. In this activity, students will
explore the use of leitmotifs in Hansel and Gretel. They will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• identify leitmotifs within longer listening selections
• To introduce the operatic technique of
• consider how such patterns bring added dimension to a work
leitmotifs
of art
• To explore the technical construction • interpret combinations of leitmotifs from Hansel and Gretel
of Humperdinck’s version of the Han-
• become familiar with some of the musical elements of the
sel and Gretel story
opera in advance of the Live in HD transmission.
• To support focused listening during
the Met Live in HD transmission STEPS This activity consists of several exercises in careful
listening. First, students will be introduced to a set of leitmo-
tifs, hearing how each is used in two or three different settings.
(Note that some of these selections are very, very brief—as short
as 5 or 6 seconds.) Next, they will listen to a selection in which
several motifs come together, and discuss Humperdinck’s inten-
tion. Then, on their own, they will unravel a second selection
incorporating a number of the same leitmotifs, with attention
to similarities, differences, and the effect it might have on an
opera audience.

Step 1: Identifying leitmotifs

A) A motif evoking the Witch’s broomstick is introduced by
Humperdinck long before the Witch herself takes the stage.
Toward the end of Act I, after hearing how Hansel and
Gretel have set out for the woods, their father lays out the
basic facts about the Witch and her attacks on stray chil-
dren. His melody is as creepy as the story he tells, under-
scored by ominous percussion.

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 The first hint comes in Selection K [Disc 1: Track 8:1:25—3:01],
at the very beginning of the piece: three innocuous wood-
wind notes, bum-BUMMMM-bump, at 1:25. At 1:32, timpani
pound out the same three tones, over and over now, fading
back to shocked silence. The father, until now a raucous,
convivial drunk, produces a mournful, sympathetic recita-
tive. Then at 2:22, from deep in the string section, those
same three notes creep forward. These comprise the first
part of the broomstick motif. They recur again and again
throughout Hansel and Gretel.

At 2:29, as the mother asks “But what’s that to do with

a broomstick,” the second half of the motif slides up, as
sinuous as it is dark, until, with the announcement that
witches ride on broomsticks at 2:48, it explodes.

B) Strangely, Humperdinck’s audience would already have

heard a melody similar to the second half of the broom-
stick motif. Earlier in Act I, while Hansel and Gretel are
alone in their house, Gretel teaches Hansel a dance. Listen
to Selection K at 2:29-2:35 once more, then play Selection
L [Disc 1: Track 4:0:03-0:14], “Little brother, dance with
me.” This disturbingly similar tune begins a dance that
builds and builds until the moment their mother arrives
home, angry to find them ignoring their chores. The key
differs from that of the broomstick theme. The tone is
merry, not spooky. But the resemblance is unmistakable.
Ask your students what they imagine Humperdinck might
have intended in connecting the theme of a carefree, work-
shirking dance with the whoosh of a witch’s broom.

By the middle of Act III, Hansel and Gretel are in the

clutches of the Witch. As she prepares to cook them, she
sings a boisterous tune about the pleasures of riding her
broomstick. The melody here is new. But have students pay
close attention to a brief bit of music—three spare notes–
that the orchestra plays between verses, then in counter-

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 melody, from the middle of Selection M [Disc 2: Track 9].
It’s the first half of that broomstick motif again.

The broomstick motif is heard at Track 9: 0:17-0:21 and again,

over and over in subtle countermelody, at Track 9, between
0:27 and 1:32. These provide an excellent example of the use
of a leitmotif. With only three notes, Humperdinck reminds
us that the Witch is no jovial hostess, nor are her broomstick
trips joy rides. Three notes, slipped into this entirely new
context, pack plenty of emotional information.

Step 2: By now, your students have

• been introduced to several leitmotifs, noticed how two motifs
can be connected, creating a new level of meaning, and
• heard how the brief recurrence of a leitmotif can affect the
emotional tenor of a different song.

It’s time to listen as Humperdinck deploys his leitmotifs,

changes their speed, power, and orchestration, and so weaves a
fabric of meaning without a single word from the libretto. Play
Selection N [Disc 1: Track 9: 0:00—4:15], the orchestral prelude
to Act II, which Humperdinck called “The Witch’s Ride.”
This piece leads Hansel and Gretel from their bleak but
familiar home into the mysterious Haunted Wood. It starts cold
with the bone-rattling first three notes of the broomstick motif,
followed by the second part, that odd reminder of Gretel’s care-
free dance. About 16 seconds in, woodwinds take over. They
transform the motif into a sweet, seductive minuet, foreshad-
owing the Witch’s wiles. We’re lulled for half a minute, until a
tambourine figuratively crashes the illusion. Violins, castanets,
oboes and brass bring the theme through a flashing series of
changes. A sense of urgency grows. A false calm descends. At
last, at 3:14, the horns sound a clarion with those three familiar
tones: Could a search party be near? Might the children be
saved? But the call, still those same three witchy notes, fades
into distant echoes as Act II begins, with Hansel and Gretel
deep in the Haunted Wood, utterly lost.

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Step 3: That close listen to “The Witch’s Ride” introduced
your students to the language of leitmotifs. Now invite them
to “translate” some music on their own. In Selection O [Disc
2: Track 13: 0:00-0:35], Hansel and Gretel have defeated the
Witch. Their parents have arrived in her gingerbread house. As
your students listen to the joyful song of reunion, have them
listen for leitmotifs–transformed here yet again. How many
can they find? Why do they think Humperdinck includes them
here? What might he mean by these motifs this time?

[To help guide your own listening, the three-note broomstick theme
comes in at 0:22; the second half of the theme/Gretel’s dance can be
discerned on close listening as a countermelody, at 0:28.]

FOLLOW-UP: Engelbert Humperdinck was neither the first nor

last composer to enhance the storytelling in his music by using
leitmotifs. Your students probably know several of the instantly
recognized motifs created by the contemporary American
composer John Williams.
Have them go to www.johnwilliamscomposer.com. On the
right side of the web page, click on the picture of the CD called
“John Williams – Greatest Hits 1969-1999.” There, among a
long list of sound bites, they can listen to:

Track 1 The Star Wars theme

Track 10 The theme signaling the approach of Darth Vader
Track 2 The theme that plays when E.T., the Extraterrestrial,
flies a bicycle into the sky
Track 3 The grand theme of Superman, in his big screen
incarnations
Track 6 The scary theme that signals the approach of the
shark in Jaws.

After listening to these and/or other well-known themes, each

student should identify one more familiar theme and bring it to
class. Students might choose to bring a recording, to play the
theme on an instrument, or to sing it. Then have your students
identify each others’ themes—providing further evidence of the
power of musical leitmotifs.
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 Trousers & Skirts
Coming Attractions
Coming Attraction
Coming Attractions are brief opportuni-
ties to The role of Hansel in Humperdinck’s opera falls in a peculiar
category. It’s what the opera world calls a trouser role, or “pants
• help students make sense of opera
role”—a male character traditionally sung by a woman. In this
• whet their interest in upcoming Metro- production, the role of the Witch is sung by a man. For fun, we
politan Opera HD transmissions.
call it a “skirt role.” (Note: The Witch happens to be sung by a
Each focuses on music from the ac- woman on the accompanying CD.)
companying CD. They direct students’ Obviously, young people will be surprised, at the very least,
attention toward highlights and details
when they learn of this casting. So it’s worth taking a few
that can organize and illuminate their
minutes to explore the reasons for casting choices.
viewing of the transmission.
First, play Selection P [Disc 2: Track 6: 0:22-2:15]. Your
The descriptions to the right offer students will hear two voices. One begins the selection with
detailed listening pointers, but these
a laugh, then sings most of what follows. The other interrupts
“mini-lessons” will in practice take up
no more than a few minutes of class with comments and reactions. This is the first appearance of the
time. They’re designed to help you Witch, in dialogue with Hansel.
bring opera into your classroom while Ask students to describe the two voices. If they can tell right
minimizing interruption of your ongoing off that both are women, write those two observations on the
curricular sequence. Feel free to use as board, indicating that you’ll come back to them.
many as you like.
Now introduce the class to the six main categories of operatic
voices:

sopranos—women’s voices in the highest register

mezzo-sopranos (pronounced “METZ-oh”)—midrange
women’s voices
contraltos—women’s voices in the lowest register
tenors—the highest of men’s voices
baritones—midrange men’s voices
basses—the deepest men’s voices

In which category would they place each of the voices in

Selection P? Hansel’s part goes fairly high; the Witch goes
moderately low. In fact, in this, as in many productions, both
are mezzo-sopranos.
You might need to repeat the point quite plainly: Hansel is
generally played by a woman. It’s called a “trouser role.” And

12
it’s not all that unusual in opera. (Be sure students understand
why it’s called a trouser role!)
Ask why composers might write trouser roles. Most real boys’
voices are too weak to be heard on an opera stage. To achieve
the right contrasting sound, boy roles are written for contraltos
or—as here–for mezzo-sopranos.
In the upcoming Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD produc-
tion, the Witch will be sung by tenor Philip Langridge! Though
this may be a more unusual casting choice than the reverse, it’s
possible because the range of a tenor can match that of a mezzo-
soprano (or in some cases a soprano!). You may want to ask
students to pay attention to the quality of the Witch’s singing
voice and to see if they can determine if the role is being sung
by a woman or a man.

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 Reasons for Prayer
Coming Attraction
One of the best-known leitmotifs in Hansel and Gretel is not
associated with a particular character. Nor is it used to advance
the plot. Its purpose is different: This theme casts a spiritual
glow on a story that’s alternately fantastic and grim.
Selection Q [Disc 1: Track 15:0:00—2:27] offers an excellent
opportunity to hear the theme in full. Here, this rising melody
serves as Hansel and Gretel’s bedtime prayer—a calm, serious,
and hopeful moment at the end of a harrowing day.
A few minutes later, the children are fast asleep, guarded by
angels and, in the Met production, dreaming of a great feast.
With Selection R [Disc 1: Track 16:1:54—4:54] the prayer motif
comes back in triumphant brass, then passes through a series
of variations right to the end of Act II. What do your students
make of the theme in this new, instrumental version? What
might be going through the minds of the sleeping children?
To understand just how important prayer is to Humperdinck’s
conception of Hansel and Gretel, play Selection S [Disc 1: Track
1:0:08-0:40]. These are the very first notes of the opera: a
stately rendition of the prayer leitmotif. Its very dignity belies
the excitement to come. Ask your students why they think the
composer might have made these choices: to begin with prayer
and to offer the prayer with this particular, rich orchestration.
Humperdinck not only starts but just about ends his opera
in prayer. Play Selection T [Disc 1:Track 13: 1;13-1:58]. Here the
singer is the father, shortly after finding his children safe and
the Witch dead. He’s supported by a swell of strings, and before
long he’s joined by his wife, his children and the gingerbread
children they’ve saved. What do your students hear in this vari-
ation? Gratitude? Relief? How does this piece retrospectively
affect the tone of the opera as a whole?
Finally, play Selection U, the continuation of the finale [Disc
2: Track 13: 1:58]. If your students listen very carefully, they will
hear a familiar sound in a background countermelody: It’s the

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Witch’s broomstick motif! What might Humperdinck be saying
by weaving this devilish “tailpiece” into his prayerful finale?

Rise and Fall, Sleepyheads

Coming Attraction
Humperdinck and Wette introduce two characters in the
middle of the opera—one toward the end of Act II and the
other at the start of Act III: the Sandman and the Dew Fairy.
Their roles are, respectively, to put Hansel and Gretel to sleep
and to wake them up. Have your students listen to Selections
V [Disc 1: Track 14:1:23—2:25], the Sandman’s song, and W, the
Dew Fairy’s song, introduced at Disc 2: Track 2: 0:20-0:51. Even
without words, could they tell which is which? How?
The songs of the Sandman and Dew Fairy provide a fine
example of a connection between pitch and purpose in operatic
melody. The falling tones of the Sandman lull the children gently
to sleep. The lilting rise of the Dew Fairy’s tune nudge them awake
on a bright new day. Both parts are performed by sopranos, but
Humperdinck’s music takes them in very different directions.

15
 Tales of the Mouse
Coming Attraction
As the third act of Hansel and Gretel begins, a single horn, then a
flute, then instruments throughout the orchestra repeat a taunting
line of music, seven notes reminiscent of a schoolyard jeer. Hear it
at Selection X [Disc 2: Track 1: 0:00-2:00]. Ask your students what
they make of this piece. It comes in the overture to the act: what do
they think it might foreshadow?
We next hear this line as the children take their first bite of the
Witch’s gingerbread house. It’s now sung by an invisible character.
Hansel and Gretel are surprised. Ask students whether Selection Y
[Disc 2: Track 5: 0:00-0:10) changes their thoughts on the tune.
The same voice sings the line again in Selection Z [Disc 2: Track 5:
1;41-1:49]. But now, if your students were watching the opera, they’d
see that it’s sung by the Witch. She sings it several more times during
the next ten minutes or so: in Selection AA [Disc 2: Track 6: 2:15-2:32],
as she offers sweets to Hansel, then in Selection BA [Disc 2: Track
6: 3:40-3:54] reminding the children how welcome they are in her
home. As she gets down to business preparing Hansel for the oven,
the Witch sings a rollicking broomstick-ride song (Selection M, in
the activity Humperdinck’s Bread Crumbs). But immediately after-
ward, as in the overture, first one horn, then one flute, respond with
the mouse theme, Selection CA (Disc 2: Track 10: 0:00-0:16—then
in variations between 0:46 and 1:46]. Are these warnings? Are they
reminders that the Witch—though amusing—is dangerous?
The full mouse theme recurs once more. Play Selection DA [Disc
2: Track 11: 1:13-1:42]. In this orchestral waltz, the melody has a
light, fanciful air. What do your students hear? What might just
have happened? On stage, it’s the children’s victory waltz. They’ve
just stuffed the Witch in her oven. Humperdinck has transformed
his leitmotif for the occasion. Once a threat, it’s now a celebration.
But how? Did he change the melody? The rhythm? The instru-
mentation? Would an audience have the same response to this bit
of music if they hadn’t heard its darker incarnation earlier in the
opera? Your students may enjoy discussing the changes which give
these seven notes whole new meaning in Selection DA.

16
Father’s Tricky Little Tune
Coming Attraction
Hansel and Gretel’s father is a minor character in the opera. His
name is never even spoken. Yet the music with which he’s asso-
ciated is used several times to set the emotional level of critical
scenes. It’s another example of a leitmotif.
We first hear the father’s carefree “ra-la-la-la” late in Act I. At first,
it’s unaccompanied and far off, then the orchestra offers its own digni-
fied setting, Selection EA (Disc 1: Track 7:0:10-1:10). There’s irony
here. On stage, Hansel and Gretel’s mother, having sent the children
away, has just sung a lament about her rotten kids and her inability
to feed the family. The words of the father’s song, too, are words of
complaint: “Curse the poor, how much we suffer—work all day and get
no supper—in your pocket a burning hole, in your stomach a gnawing
mole—hunger eats away your soul!” But what do your students hear in
the melody? Despair? Contentment? Resolve?
The first part of Selection FA [Disc 1: Track 7:1:58-2:36] continues
the same song. Have your students listen to the words here: “Who
cares if he’s a chef or not? You can’t cook much with an empty pot!
… That’s why I’m a drunken sot.” Is that what they hear? Is all this
just a drunkard’s folly? How would his wife feel, hearing this, after all
she’s just been through? Listen to her response at 2:22 “Oh, hell!” she
sings. “What is that bawling? For goodness sake, that caterwauling
that’s made me awake!”
This back-and-forth continues for several minutes, studded by the
father’s “Ra-la-la-la!” When he asks what’s for dinner, she responds,
“This menu is a simple matter, it’s masterpiece an empty platter.”
Listen to the beginning of Selection GA [Disc 1: Track 7:3:52-4:14]
as she continues, 3:52-4:00, “empty cup, empty plate, and my purse
in the selfsame state.” Do your students hear anything familiar here?
What do they learn about the wife’s attitude toward her husband
from her use—her parody—of his “ra-la-la” melody?
In the latter part of the selection, using that same melody, the
father’s tone changes. So do his words: “Cheer up, mother, salva-
tion’s here, and you’ve every cause to cheer.” We can imagine the
wife’s sardonic laughter.

17
 Now listen to the theme’s recurrence at Selection HA [Disc
1: Track 7:4:50-5:12]. What can explain this joyful duet? The
lyric offers only this: “Funny how the thought of food puts you
in a better mood.” But his wife has been thinking about food
for some time! What further information do your students hear
in the music? Is there more than the thought of food here? Just
moments before, the mother learned that the father has come
home with sausages, butter, vegetables, and more! Is this still a
drunkard’s song, or a song of legitimate joy?
Jump to the first several seconds of Selection IA [Disc 2: Track
12: 3:48-4:00]. The opera is almost over. Hansel and Gretel have
killed the Witch and freed the gingerbread children. Now, as
their parents arrive, this is their father’s song. Do your students
hear joy? Why not? Do the parents know yet that their children
are safe? What does the father’s song, just a snippet but the
same song, convey now? Continue the selection (at Track 13:
0:00-0:35)—a rising tide of celebration. Certainly, that celebra-
tion can be heard in the second part of the selection. But what do
your students make of Humperdinck’s contrast? Does the grief
conveyed in the first part of the selection affect our emotions
in the second part? Would the grief in the first part have been
as powerful if we weren’t familiar with the same melody as a
happy air? What use might composers make of such contrasts
in communicating with an audience through music?

18
Supporting Students during
the Metropolitan Opera:
Live in HD Transmission
Thanks to print and audio recording, much about opera can
be enjoyed long before a performance. But performance itself
remains an incomparable embarrassment of riches—sound and
color, pageantry and technology, drama, skill, and craft. At
the Met activities (See page 27) are designed to help students
tease apart different aspects of the experience, consider creative
choices that have been made, and sharpen their own critical
faculties.
Each activity incorporates a reproducible activity sheet.
Students bring the activity sheet to the transmission for filling out
during intermission and/or after the final curtain. The activities
direct attention to characteristics of the production that might
otherwise go unnoticed. Ratings matrices invite students to
express their critique, a time-tested prompt for careful thinking.
The basic activity sheet is called “My Highs & Lows.” Meant
to be collected, opera by opera, over the course of the season,
this sheet points students toward a consistent set of objects of
observation. Its purposes are not only to help students articu-
late and express their opinions, but to support comparison and
contrast, enriching understanding of the art form as a whole.
For Hansel and Gretel, the second activity sheet is a kind of in-your-
seat scavenger hunt for food references in the Met Live in HD
transmission. The activity Food for Thought explored food refer-
ences in the opera’s music and libretto. This Metropolitan Opera
production carries the theme into sets, costumes, even staging.
Students can use the activity sheet to guide their Hansel and Gretel
Food Hunt. Keep track of as many food references as possible.
The activity reproducibles can be found on the last two pages of
this guide. Either activity can provide the basis for class discussion
after the transmission. On the next page, you’ll find an additional
activity created specifically for post-transmission follow-up.
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IN PREPARATION:
Home from the Opera
Your students will need paper and pen-
cils plus a variety of art materials to do
Hansel & “Health Food”
this activity. Students will enjoy starting the class with an open discussion
of the Met performance. What did they like? What didn’t they?
If it’s appropriate to your curriculum,
students might be interested in re- Did anything surprise them? What would they like to see or
searching the social and economic hear again? What would they have done differently? The discus-
conditions of Germany in the late-19th sion offers an opportunity to apply the notes on students’ My
century as part of their preparation for Highs & Lows sheet, as well as their thoughts about the integra-
this activity. tion of food imagery into the Met production—in short, to see
If your class did the activity themselves as Hansel and Gretel experts.
Food For Thought, it might help for [If your students did the activity Food for Thought, you may
them to have their Hansel and Gretel want to introduce a brief review at this point. Students may
food graphs at hand. want to look at their “Hansel and Gretel Food Graphs” as well as
their At the Met activity sheets.]
There can be no doubt by now that hunger, gluttony, waste—a
Curriculum connections range of issues involving food–are important to Hansel and
Social Studies, Language Arts, Gretel and, evidently, to its composer and librettist. Why might
Visual Art. that have been? (This, again, may be a review for students who
did the prior food-themed activity.) What might life have been
like in late 19th-century Germany to suggest that audiences
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
would find this theme relevant? Why could opera have been
• To review and consolidate students’ a good way to make a statement about these concerns? Where
experiences with Hansel and Gretel
would an artist go today if he or she wanted to raise conscious-
• To explore the relationship between ness about an important social issue?
art and awareness of social concerns Here’s a thought: What if Hansel and Gretel were hired to
• To investigate differences between be “celebrity spokespeople” for a public-service advertising
contemporary tools of communica- campaign about a food issue today? What issue might it be?
tions and those in use in Hump- The persistence of hunger is one possibility. Another is the need
erdinck’s day to have a balanced diet. Perhaps they could promote healthy
• To consider the roles advertising can eating—they certainly had experience with the perils of too
play in contemporary society, as well many sweets!
as characteristics of effective commu- Your students’ task in this activity is to identify a social issue
nication through advertising
involving food, to develop an advertising campaign aimed at
addressing that issue—and to feature Hansel and Gretel. They

20
can develop slogans, print ads, posters, radio or TV scripts.
They might even decide to shoot video commercials.
Students should decide what audience they are addressing
with their campaigns—what ages, what backgrounds? What
will get this audience’s attention? How can they best reach
the audience? Where would the elements of their campaigns
appear? On TV? Online? In magazines? At cinemas?
The objective is for students to use all their creativity and
skills to take Humperdinck’s version of Hansel and Gretel to the
next level—a level that might not have existed in the 1890s, but
is central to our world today.

Photo credits: TK

21
 Student Resources
On the next four pages, you’ll find reproducibles of activity
sheets for Hansel and Gretel. Feel free to photocopy these and
distribute them in your classroom or to the community audi-
ence at your Live in HD venue.
The first two pages offer resources for the full-length activity
Food For Thought.
Pages 27 and 28 are activity sheets to be used at the Live in HD
transmission. Page 27 is designed to support your classroom
work. Page 28, “My Highs & Lows,” is a collectible prompting
closer attention to specific aspects of the opera. You may want
to provide copies of “My Highs & Lows” not only to students,
but to friends, family, and other members of the community
attending the transmission.

22
The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD
Hansel and Gretel
Synopsis for Activity
Food for Thought

Hansel and Gretel in Brief

Act I:
Hansel and Gretel have been left at home alone by their parents.
When Hansel complains to his sister that he is hungry, Gretel
shows him some milk that a neighbor has given them for the fami-
ly’s supper. To entertain them, she begins to teach her brother how
to dance. Suddenly their mother returns. She scolds the children
for playing and wants to know why they have gotten so little work
done. When she accidentally spills the milk, she angrily chases
the children out into the woods to pick strawberries.
Hansel and Gretel’s father returns home drunk. He is pleased
because he was able to make a considerable amount of money
that day. He brings out the food he has bought and asks his
wife where the children have gone. She explains that she has
sent them into the woods. Horrified, he tells her that the chil-
dren are in danger because of the witch who lives there. They
rush off into the woods to look for them.

Act II:
Gretel is singing while Hansel picks strawberries. When they
hear a cuckoo calling, they imitate the bird’s call, eating straw-
berries all the while, and soon there are none left. In the sudden
silence of the woods, the children realize that they have lost
their way and grow frightened. The Sandman comes to bring
them sleep by sprinkling sand on their eyes. Hansel and Gretel
say their evening prayer. In a dream, they see fourteen angels
protecting them.

23
 Act III:
As the third act begins, the Dew Fairy appears to awaken the
children. Gretel wakes Hansel, and the two find themselves in
front of a gingerbread house. They do not notice the Witch,
who decides to fatten Hansel up so she can eat him. She immo-
bilizes him with a spell. The oven is hot, and the Witch is over-
joyed at the thought of her banquet. Gretel has overheard the
Witch’s plan, and she breaks the spell on Hansel. When the
Witch asks her to look in the oven, Gretel pretends she doesn’t
know how: the Witch must show her. When she does, peering
into the oven, the children shove her inside and shut the door.
The oven explodes, and the many gingerbread children the
Witch had enchanted come back to life. Hansel and Gretel’s
parents appear and find their children. All express gratitude
for their salvation.

24
25
 The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD
Hansel and Gretel
Resource Page for Activity
Food for Thought

The Hansel and Gretel

Food Graph

+2

+1
FOOD SCALE

-1

-2

A B C D EF G H I J
ACT I ACT II ACT III ACT III

MUSIC SELECTIONS WHEN THEY OCCUR

26
At the Met: Hunting for Food
T h e M e t r o p o l i ta n Oper a : Live i n H D
Hansel an d Gr etel, Jan uary 1, 20 0 8

Name

Cl ass

T e ach e r

Humperdinck and Wette sprinkled food references throughout Hansel and Gretel. Now it’s your
turn to sniff out the food imagery in this Met Live in HD transmission. Happy hunting!

Food in the Set Design

Ac t i

Ac t ii

Ac t iii

Between-Act “Show Curtains”

F o o d i n (o r o n ! ) C o s t u m e s

Ac t I

Ac t I I

Ac t I I D r e a m S eq u e n c e

Ac t I I I

F o o d i n t h e Ac t i o n ( E at i n g ,o r ….)

Ac t I

Ac t I I

Ac t I I I

27
 Hansel and Gretel: My Highs & Lows
T h e M e t r o p o l i ta n Op e r a : Li v e i n H D
J a n ua r y 1, 2 0 0 8

R e v i e w e d by

T HE S TARS S TAR P O W ER M Y CO M M EN T S

A l ic e Co ot e a s H a n s e l
* * * * *
C h r i s t i n e Sch ä f e r a s G r e t e l
*****
Phi l ip L a n g r i d g e a s t h e Wi tch
*****
r o s a l i n d plo w r igh t a s g e r t r u d e
*****
A l a n h e l d a s pe t e r
*****
T HE S h o w, s c e n e by s c e n e ac t i o n singing s e t d e s i g n /s tag i n g

H a n s e l a n d G r e t e l’ s s o n g s 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

M ot h e r b r e a k s t h e m i l k j u g 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

Fat h e r ’ s s o n g o f t h e W i tc h 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

Hansel and Gretel hunt berries 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

T h e S a n d m a n 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n
T h e d r e a m s eq u e n c e 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

T h e D e w Fa i r y ’ s s o n g 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

F i n d i n g t h e W i tc h ’ s h o u s e 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

F o r c e - f e e d i n g H a n s e l 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

G r e t e l s av e s t h e day 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

T h e c e l e b r at i o n 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

F i n a l e 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5 1- 2- 3 - 4 - 5

My o pi n i o n

28