To avoid a misunderstanding Germans will insist that the title be used without the article, for "Die Konigskinder" or "Zwei Konigskinder" both suggest the simple German form of the old tale of Hero and Leander, with which story, of course, it has nothing whatever to do.

But if literary criticism forbids association between Humperdinck's two operas, musical criticism compels it.

Many of the characters in the operas are close relations, dramatically as well as musically--the royal children themselves, the witches, of course, and the broom-makers.

The rest of the characters have been taken from Wagner's "Meistersinger" picture book; the citizens of Hellabrunn are Nuremberg's burghers, the city's' councillors, the old master singers.

The musical idiom is Humperdinck's, though its method of employment is Wagner's.