Index of illustrations on Sur La Lune http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illus...
Fairytales were ideal for stage adaption in a strictly controlled political world where the extremes of wealth and poverty could not be ignored. Censorship was a state institution, forcing Mozart in an earlier day to rewrite and revise Don Giovanni no less than five times and create a contrived Happy Ending. Opera houses are not private or public concerns, but state controlled. Pressure existed that is invisible today. Using fairytales gave the creators a way of escape and freedom to express what otherwise might not be allowed. Hoffmann produced The Mouse King and the Nutcracker; Strauss, Die Frau Ohne Schatten and Puccini, Turandot. Mahler contributed Das Knaben des Wunderhorn and Das Klagende Lied. All of them, works are derived from children's literature, escaping censorship by allowing the freedom of dreams in a world beset decade after decade with wars, poverty and the ravages of the industrial revolution.
Although Humperdinck is often burdened with the shadow of Wagner, being his editor, he was respected and admired by his contemporaries: Strauss, Reinhadt and Puccini. Nor was he the only composer to adapt "fairytales" for stage. He was deeply influenced by Mozart who wrote translucent works for children and produced the eternal favorite, Zauberflote.
In Vienna, Klimt formed the Secession, breaking away from stylized romantic art and across Europe, Art Noveau became the new movement, allowing myth, fantasy and fairytale to leap into paintings and onto buildings. In England, Oscar Wilde paraded Art for Art's Sake and the Pre-Raphaelites took up position against the traditional school. The golden age of fantasy and artistic expression began spreading throughout Europe, bearing sumptious fruit in the performing and applied arts. Literature followed.
Perhaps, the Grimm story would have dropped from the pages of children's books without the Humperdinck adaptation. The story appeared in the 1812 collection of Grimm's Childrens and Household Tales. The Grimm brothers originally collected the stories to create a compendium of German literature in reaction to the French nationalization and Napoleonic influence. When the stories were first published, parents were offended as they circulated among children. This was not the original intent of the brothers. In response, the stories were edited and changed to make them more suitable for younger readers. Today, school authorities wriggle like cut worms when parents complain. Not much has changed.
D. L Ashliman, Hansel u Gretel http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm015a.html a comparison of changes in the two editions 18112 and 1857
