BaL 9.10.21 - Lehar: The Merry Widow

[DoctorT]

Enjoyed this BaL, happy with the JEG recording which I own. I was wondering about a DVD recommendation: any suggestions?

[visualnickmos]

You won't be pleased with this week's winner...

Indeed; The orchestra is great, bouncy, full of fun etc; just Schwarzkopf is the dealbreaker, sadly.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ever since I conducted a 10 day amateur production in 1990, this has been my favourite of all operettas.
The pivotal moment for any performance IMO is Danilo’s tale of the prince and princess in Act 3: “Es waren zero Königskinder” - so effective in the Maravich performance, which was surely the right recommendation.
However, I was drawn to the Karajan too and have ordered a CD set (from Japan).

[LHC]

Ever since I conducted a 10 day amateur production in 1990, this has been my favourite of all operettas.
The pivotal moment for any performance IMO is Danilo’s tale of the prince and princess in Act 3: “Es waren zero Königskinder” - so effective in the Maravich performance, which was surely the right recommendation.
However, I was drawn to the Karajan too and have ordered a CD set (from Japan).

I too have ordered the Karajan set, although in my case I managed to pick up a 2nd hand set for £5.

[mikealdren]

Ever since I conducted a 10 day amateur production in 1990, this has been my favourite of all operettas.
The pivotal moment for any performance IMO is Danilo’s tale of the prince and princess in Act 3: “Es waren zero Königskinder” - so effective in the Maravich performance, which was surely the right recommendation.
However, I was drawn to the Karajan too and have ordered a CD set (from Japan).

Yes, it's a great number and I've just listened to Ackermann, Von Matacic and Gardiner's versions. It's one are where the Ackermann scores over von Matacic, Erich Kunz, part Sprechgesang, is much better than Eberhard Wächter who speaks most of it and doesn't quite get the emotion. The Gardiner, despite being beautifully sung by Boje Skovhus, is curiously unmoving. I too have ordered the Karajan, I suspect he will milk this number....

[Quarky]

A worthy winner.

So what’s wrong with Schwarzkopf’s voice? As with all good singers, it’s a Marmite thing. But I suspect it’s her vowel sounds that sometimes puts people off. Some of them sound decidedly ugly, even though the control of vocal tone is exemplary.
Just my thoughts, of course.

As a casual student of the female voice, I remember, when first hearing her voice, I felt something rather artificial in there. However on listening again to the Merry Widow, I found nothing to complain about.

In a search for something more authoritative, I found:: https://www.stereophile.com/news/080...opf/index.html

An extract:: As she would later do with some of her most tortured students in master classes, Schwarzkopf, with Legge, sometimes spent an hour or more on a single word or phrase, perfecting the exact timbre, vowel sound, timing, and dynamic nuance with which to express the composer and poet's meaning. Especially in the later years, when her sound became more covered, this resulted in performances that seemed disturbingly mannered, even arch. In a song about a wounded heart, for example, one could search in vain for a genuine sense of pain, only to encounter an overactive mind dictating how to sound perfectly pained.........

Forgiving Schwarzkopf's Nazi past presents a greater challenge.....

To make matters worse, she apparently had a strong view of her own value, having given Maria Callas an impromptu singing lesson in a restaurant, and having chosen 7 of her own recordings in a Desert Island Disc episode!

[pastoralguy]

Forgiving Schwarzkopf's Nazi past presents a greater challenge.....[/I]

To make matters worse, she apparently had a strong view of her own value, having given Maria Callas an impromptu singing lesson in a restaurant, and having chosen 7 of her own recordings in a Desert Island Disc episode!

I fear that, whilst not yet emulating the nazis (sic) level of depravity, this country is heading down a dangerous road of extreme right wing rhetoric which I suspect may end in disaster. My point is that whilst it’s easy to accuse others of an inglorious past, it’s dangerous to suppose that we can be regarded as being pure as our country degenerates into a very unwelcoming place. Before we criticise Schwarzkopf for her past we should look at our own behaviour, be it active or inactive.

With regard to Desert Island Disc, surely the main propulsion behind this programme is less celebrating ones favourite eight pieces of music than discussing ones life around certain events and the music that reminds one of said events. So obviously, La Schwarzkopf would have strong feelings about her life as she made these recordings. By choosing them, she simply gave a flavour of how these recordings represented her life when there were made.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There was also Lehár's ownoverture written for the 400th performance (but very rarely used again in the theatre) and played by the Vienna Phil at Lehár's 70th birthday concert. It's a nice concert piece, but I think it really slows things up in the theatre (and on records). If it's Lehár's own, then I agree it is rather good –but also that it doesn't really belong to the opera.

Is there a recording of Lehar’s Overture?

[LHC]

Is there a recording of Lehar’s Overture?

There is a CPO disc of Lehar overtures and waltzes conducted by Michail Jurowski that includes the Merry Widow Overture. There is also a highlights disc (sung in English) with Joan Sutherland and conducted by Richard Bonynge that also includes the overture (although I'm not sure if that's Lehar's overture, or someone elses concoction).

Lehar's Ballsirenen waltz, which uses themes from the Merry Widow, is on the JEG Wiener Soiree disc.

[Barbirollians]

I fear that, whilst not yet emulating the nazis (sic) level of depravity, this country is heading down a dangerous road of extreme right wing rhetoric which I suspect may end in disaster. My point is that whilst it’s easy to accuse others of an inglorious past, it’s dangerous to suppose that we can be regarded as being pure as our country degenerates into a very unwelcoming place. Before we criticise Schwarzkopf for her past we should look at our own behaviour, be it active or inactive.

With regard to Desert Island Disc, surely the main propulsion behind this programme is less celebrating ones favourite eight pieces of music than discussing ones life around certain events and the music that reminds one of said events. So obviously, La Schwarzkopf would have strong feelings about her life as she made these recordings. By choosing them, she simply gave a flavour of how these recordings represented her life when there were made.

I am sure I read somewhere that Roy Plomley encouraged her to choose her own recordings ?

[LHC]

I am sure I read somewhere that Roy Plomley encouraged her to choose her own recordings ?

She explained her choice of recordings when she told Plomley “I will stick to my own records... I would like to relive my life”. As I recall, 7 of the 8 pieces she chose featured her own voice, and the 8th was the overture to one of her opera recordings.

She’s not the only person to pick their own recordings. Moura Lympany went one better, as she featured on all 8 of her chosen recordings.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There is a CPO disc of Lehar overtures and waltzes conducted by Michail Jurowski that includes the Merry Widow Overture.

Many thanks. I'll be ordering that.

[mikealdren]

Is there a recording of Lehar’s Overture?

There's a 1940 recording with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Lehar himself.

[Barbirollians]

She explained her choice of recordings when she told Plomley “I will stick to my own records... I would like to relive my life”. As I recall, 7 of the 8 pieces she chose featured her own voice, and the 8th was the overture to one of her opera recordings.

She’s not the only person to pick their own recordings. Moura Lympany went one better, as she featured on all 8 of her chosen recordings.

I think the reason I prefer the Ackermann to von Matacic - is that despite the better sound in the latter that Schwarzkopf sounds less mannered as she did with Ackermann in the Four Last Songs too. Also agree with the preference for Kunz.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Karajan arrived this morning, and it's a wonderful experience. HvK really gets inside this music. Truly Viennese in spirit, even though it's with the Berliners.


(My only gripe is the close recording of the voices, with the orchestra at something of a distance.)