KONIGSKINDER (The Royal Children) is a rarely performed opera by Engelbert Humperdinck, better known for composing “Hansel and Gretel” and is based on a story by Ernst Rosmer. In the forest the Goose-Girl, a Princess under a spell, serves the Witch; she meets a Prince, dressed as a pauper, and they instantly fall in love. A Broommaker, Woodcutter, and Fiddler come to ask the Witch who will be King and she tells them that it will be the first person to enter the gates of the city after the noon bells have rung the next day. The Fiddler, with whom the other two have not shared their reward for this information from the townspeople, helps the Goose-Girl break the Witch's spell. The next day the townsfolk excitedly await the arrival of their new King. The Prince has stayed in the town, engaged as a swineherd by the Innkeeper. As the bells ring, the city gates open and the Goose-Girl enters, greeted by the Prince, but the people don’t believe that they could possibly be the New King and Queen and drive the poorly-dressed couple away. In the third act, it is now Winter, and the Fiddler is living in the Witch's hut. The Broom-maker, with the children of the town, comes to persuade the Fiddler, the only one who believed that the Prince and Princess were the true King and Queen, to return and he and the children set out to find them. Starving, the two approach the Witch's hut, begging bread in exchange for the prince's crown. This they are given, but the bread is poisoned, made by the Witch, and the Prince and Princess die. They are found by the children and the Fiddler, who build a bier and mourn the couple, whose true nobility was unrecognized. 

      Königskinder was presented by The Sarasota Opera Association. It was directed by

      Jacques Trussel with Scenic design by David Gordon and Lighting design by Barry Steele