FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Thursday, July 27, 2006
A case of 2 Engelberts
The name Engelbert Humperdinck is most often these days associated with the crooning singer of the 1960's and 70's who had such hits as Please Release Me, The Last Waltz & There Goes My Everything. But few people who aren't into classical music realise that not only is this not the singer's real name but that it was borrowed as a stage name from another musician who lived almost a century earlier : Engelbert Humperdinck the German composer of light opera.
The composer Engelbert Humperdinck, taken in 1854.
Perhaps I should have included him in my Name That Composer's Beard competition!!
In his day, though, Humperdinck the senior was every bit as famous as his British singing namesake (the latter's real name actually being Arnold Dorsey) and had friends and colleagues who have become household names in the classical music world, albeit for entirely different reasons, such as Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Infact, in the early 1880's Humperdinck assisted Wagner with his first production of Parsifal.. although the history books don't tell us a great deal about in what manner his assistance was required - presumably in orchestration and part writing.
Today one work by Humperdinck does continue to be regularly performed. This is his opera Hansel and Gretal that started life as a series of songs and then, due to its obvious potential, became a full scale stage work with orchestral accompaniment. This is a work that often gets performed at Christmas time and, because of it's subject matter, is popular with children. One section of this work that is quite well known and is used occasionally on mainstream television is the Evening Prayer - even if you don't think you know it you probably would recognise the melody!
But, alas, Hansel and Gretal was to be Humperdinck's only really widely celebrated work as in later life his health suffered, firstly in 1912 when he had a severe stroke that left him partially paralysed, and then nine years later with two heart attacks, the second of which caused his death on September 27th 1921. He did leave quite a body of compositions behind, including a series of songs and operas based on other fairy tales, but he perhaps will be most recognised for being the first composer to adopt the vocal technique known as Sprechgesang - a half singing and half speaking manner that still enjoys great use on the musical stage today.
Out of interest, the other Humperdinck, Arnold Dorsey's, website contains some interesting and massively self-congratulatory quotes that might be worth a little snigger at :
The composer Engelbert Humperdinck, taken in 1854.Perhaps I should have included him in my Name That Composer's Beard competition!!
In his day, though, Humperdinck the senior was every bit as famous as his British singing namesake (the latter's real name actually being Arnold Dorsey) and had friends and colleagues who have become household names in the classical music world, albeit for entirely different reasons, such as Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Infact, in the early 1880's Humperdinck assisted Wagner with his first production of Parsifal.. although the history books don't tell us a great deal about in what manner his assistance was required - presumably in orchestration and part writing.
Today one work by Humperdinck does continue to be regularly performed. This is his opera Hansel and Gretal that started life as a series of songs and then, due to its obvious potential, became a full scale stage work with orchestral accompaniment. This is a work that often gets performed at Christmas time and, because of it's subject matter, is popular with children. One section of this work that is quite well known and is used occasionally on mainstream television is the Evening Prayer - even if you don't think you know it you probably would recognise the melody!
But, alas, Hansel and Gretal was to be Humperdinck's only really widely celebrated work as in later life his health suffered, firstly in 1912 when he had a severe stroke that left him partially paralysed, and then nine years later with two heart attacks, the second of which caused his death on September 27th 1921. He did leave quite a body of compositions behind, including a series of songs and operas based on other fairy tales, but he perhaps will be most recognised for being the first composer to adopt the vocal technique known as Sprechgesang - a half singing and half speaking manner that still enjoys great use on the musical stage today.
Out of interest, the other Humperdinck, Arnold Dorsey's, website contains some interesting and massively self-congratulatory quotes that might be worth a little snigger at :
"His voice comes from heaven..."
"The Humps' current CD, Vie Dance Album, is his first album in the dance genre."
"The Humpster has appeared on several MTV programs in the past..."
"Arnold George Dorsey gave the worlds finest impersonation of Jerry Lewis..."
"...it was Humperdinck, not Elvis, who made famous the sideburns and flamboyant leather jumpsuits. Engelbert often jokingly asserts that Elvis "stole" the image from him."
"The Humps' current CD, Vie Dance Album, is his first album in the dance genre."
"The Humpster has appeared on several MTV programs in the past..."
"Arnold George Dorsey gave the worlds finest impersonation of Jerry Lewis..."
"...it was Humperdinck, not Elvis, who made famous the sideburns and flamboyant leather jumpsuits. Engelbert often jokingly asserts that Elvis "stole" the image from him."
