[3] This version premiered on 11 December 1906 at the Prinzregententheater in Munich conducted by Felix Mottl with the actress Maja Reubke in the title role.

The revised version premiered on 11 December 1917 at the Königlich-Sächsisches Hoftheater in Dresden conducted by Fritz Reiner with Richard Tauber as Frieder and Grete Merrem-Nikisch in the title role.

[5] Otto Klemperer was an admirer of the work, but Bruno Walter spoke of it as a "Lernaean serpent [the librettist] who had slain Hercules [the composer]".

[7][8] The opera was broadcast on German television NWDR in 1955, conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter with Anneliese Rothenberger in the title role,[9] and has subsequently had two more full-length recordings.

Franz and Jochen, servants of Frieder and Trautchen's father, enter the forest to cut down a Christmas tree and end up having an encounter with Knecht Ruprecht whom they initially assume is a toy seller and then a warlock.

After a dance by young men and forest maidens prevents the servants from cutting down a tree, angels appear to announce that it is Christmas Eve, a holy night.

Trautchen is brought into the room, and Knecht Ruprecht arrives with village children to explain the tradition of the Christmas tree.