Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) studied music in Cologne, Munich and Italy. In 1879 he met Richard Wagner in Naples and was invited to become his assistant at Bayreuth. As a result he tried in his compositions to transform Wagner's musical drama into the folklore idiom. In 1881 he left for Barcelona, where he taught for two years at the Conservatory, until he moved to Cologne and then to Frankfurt. In 1900 he took over a masterclass in composition at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.


In 1893 he wrote the work on which his worldwide fame still rests: the fairytale opera "Hänsel and Gretel" with a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette. Other works include the musical drama "Die Königskinder" (the King's Children), the comic opera "König wider Willen" (the Reluctant King).