A moment of carelessness leads a young vixen to be captured. She grows up on a forester's farm, surrounded by pestering children, a misunderstood dachshund, and a flock of chickens whose eagerness to serve only further encourages the vixen to give in to her hunting instinct. After escaping to freedom, she encounters a fox, with whom she starts a family—not without some forest dwellers commenting indignantly on the young couple's courtship. But in the forest, not only fox and badger, but sometimes also forester and schoolmaster say "good night" to each other when they meet on their way back from the pub. And when the paths of humans and animals cross, the animals often come out on the short end...

EPSG:4326

The clever little fox

Staatstheater Mainz

Engelbert Humperdinck was actually only supposed to set to music a few passages from the fairytale play Hansel and Gretel , which his sister Adelheid Wette had written for a family performance. However, on the enthusiastic advice of his relatives, the small project developed first into a singspiel and finally into a full-length opera about the story of the siblings Hansel and Gretel. Growing up in poverty, their mother sends them into the forest to pick berries out of necessity. There they meet not only the Sand Men and the Dew Men, but also the witch who has sent shivers down the spines of countless children.

Paul Johannes Kirschner

Events

Upcoming events

26 - 30 Dec, 2025

Hansel and Gretel · Staatstheater Mainz

Past events

Oct 11 - Nov 29, 2025

The clever little fox · Staatstheater Mainz

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Staatstheater Mainz

Conductor in The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček

Staatstheater Mainz

About

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