DESCRIPTION:
"Hänsel & Gretel" Evening Prayer by Engelbert Humperdinck.
David Wigram, boy soprano (singing both parts),
Libretto by Adelheid Wette (Humperdinck's sister) based upon the Grimm brothers' fairy tale " Hänsel and Gretel." First conducted in Weimar by Richard Strauss in 1893; Hamburg premiere on September 25, 1894, conducted by Gustav Mahler.

When at night I go to sleep
Fourteen angels watch do keep
Two my head are guarding
Two my feet are guiding
Two are on my right hand
Two are on my left hand
Two who warmly cover
Two who o'er me hover
Two to whom 'tis given
To guide my steps to heaven.
*****
Abendsegen from Hänsel and Gretel"

Abends, will ich schlafen gehn,
Vierzehn Engel um mich stehn:
Zwei zu meinen Häupten,
Zwei zu meinen Füßen,
Zwei zu meiner Rechten,
Zwei zu meiner Linken,
Zweie, die mich decken,
Zweie, die mich wecken,
Zweie, die mich weisen,
Zu Himmels-Paradeisen.