MENDELSSOHN, Arnold: HUMPERDINCK. - [1855-1933]: Autograph postcard with place, date and signature (initial) with parody of Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel" of unknown hand. Ginsheim, 20. 5. [18]94.. Octavo 9,2 x 14 cm. 1 page.

Arnold Mendelssohn was the son of Wilhelm Mendelssohn, a cousin of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Arnold wrote 3 operas, one of them the Bärenhäuter op. 11, first performance 9.2.1900. He writes to Hermann Wette (1857-1919), Humperdinck's brother-in-law and librettist of Hänsel und Gretel, that he had just read his libretto "Bärenheuter" at a friend's house: "At Engelbert's I got to know your Bärenhäuter better yesterday, respectively the 2 Mährlein ... and I am very enthusiastic about the idea. Stick to it! ..." Next to this message of enthusiasm to his future librettist, there is a text parody of "Hansel and Gretel" by an unknown hand with the following content: "Let go there play, tale and poetry and plunge straight into the middle of Hellpool! Chorus of the Hell Roasts: In the evening I will go intothe kettle, fourteen little devils are standing around me, two that bind me, two that torture me, two that pinch me, two that itch me, two that heat me up, two that ... throw me into hell's kettle ..."