No, the famous British pop singer from the 1960s — real name Arnold Dorsey — did not compose this opera. The Engelbert Humperdinck who wrote Hansel and Gretel was born in Germany in 1854. In the 1890s, his sister, Adelheid Wette, had written a libretto based on the Grimm fairy tale, and asked her brother to set it to music as a Christmas entertainment for her children. Later, Engelbert and Adelheid decided to turn this modest family project into a full-scale opera. Hansel and Gretel premiered on December 23, 1893 at Weimar. It was an instant hit and remains an everlasting masterpiece. The young composer Richard Strauss, who was the assistant conductor for the premiere, called it “a masterwork of the first rank.”