"The Merry Widow" was the toast of the new century when the operetta premiered in Vienna on 30 December 1905. It's still undoubtedly the most performed operetta. Franz Lehár, to whom we owe those gorgeous tunes, had written several operettas, whilst climbing up through army and naval band roles. Born in Hungary, he'd come to Vienna as the youngest bandmaster in the Austro-Hungarian Army - he'd spoken only Hungarian until the age of 12. He was offered the libretto (written from a German play) only after a previously engaged composer's version was dumped, and even then, according to Wiki, "during the rehearsal period, the theatre lost faith in the score and asked Lehár to withdraw it, but he refused".
Phew! We so nearly lost what conductor John Wilson calls “the best operetta ever written”. And we nearly didn't win the wonderful Merry Widow waltz that ends the operetta.
Focus for a moment on that waltz - it tells you the whole of this turn of the century operetta. It's not just a good dance tune, though certainly one of the best.
Here are Sumi Jo & Dmitri Hvorostovsky in St Petersburg, 2008. Just music, no English words.
Now for the words. The waltz is also a gem of operetta theatre. What's going on?
Any opera rides on its libretto, and operetta, in which there's much text spoken as well as sung, is all the more dependent on a libretto that tells its story.
There are innumerable translations to English of this gem - for really schmaltzy lyrics, here's Andre Rieu! Joan Sutherland's famous performance for Australian Opera used the traditional translation involving an unexplained echo answering. Countless translations have been made since that one.
For words that actually tell the plot, listen to Beverly Sills and Alan Titus, long, long ago. This was a brilliant production by San Diego Opera that went on to NY City Opera. More here about productions. (Listen through to get the splendid ending and G&S worthy resolution of the opera's plot. And go to the end of this post for the amazing find of a full opera version from San Diego!)
But the lyrics are most sweetly translated, I think, by the remarkable Jeremy Sams - here's his entire translation of the libretto for ROH. And here is his version of the denouement at the waltz.
Music’s playing / Hear it saying,/“I love you.”
As we dance,/ A voice may ans-wer,/“I do too.”
Can’t you hear the music/ Sing the same old song?
I love you, and yes,/You knew it all along.
Well now you know most of the story of this piece! But if you want the full synopsis, it's here. Or take a moment to listen to this intro.
It's all about the widow, Hanna, and her extraordinary liberty (via wealth) in a restrictive society. And of course about love. Graeme Murphy says it splendidly in this trailer for a 2017 Opera Queensland performance (- with David Hobson as a delightfully ageing Danilo. He was playing it, a little younger, in Melbourne is 2012 - here's "Cherchez la Femme".)
And of course, it's about dancing. Here's the Met's version of the can-can at Maxim's.
Turn of the century
What's different about this operetta? Like Orpheus and Fledermaus, it has a complicated, opera-worthy plot, but it's played out with lovely music interspersed with dialog. Also like all G&S operettas, it's blessed by a light, witty and socially satirical (sometimes LOL funny) libretto. See ENO on operetta here.
So is it the music that makes it different from the earlier operettas? The conductor of Glyndebourne's current production writes:
Franz Lehár took the genre to new heights. He was a master orchestrator – which is why conductors love to get their hands on this piece. You can hear the popular tunes of the day, military marches and ballroom dances in its musical language, but the piquancy of the orchestration is definitely French – the influence of Debussy and Ravel and how they changed how you handle the orchestra is clearly evident.
Or is it the story this opera is telling? That's unlike the operettas before it. Here's the Glyndebourne director:
The piece is the prototype for every Hollywood musical you’ve ever seen. Designer Gary McCann has given it the feel of a Hollywood musical – men in top hats, glamour and style, but on an opera stage and set firmly in the belle époque... And there are moments where we definitely don’t want there to be a laugh. I want the audience to go, ‘Oh my God, is he never going to ask her to marry him?’ I want moments of pathos because it’s all the more poignant when it breaks through a lighthearted production to give us something that feels so real. I’m sure everyone is laughing at me but I cannot watch the scenes between Hanna and Danilo without crying. So no, this show isn’t just a laugh – it’s a cry as well.
Are we indeed getting towards Hollywood musicals? According to Lehár, "Operetta should never lose contact with human feelings and ideas. This is the secret of its impressiveness". More here.
What was happening, by the way, in opera in Europe around 1905? Dvořák, and Richard Strauss, and yes, Debussy and Ravel. Not to mention Leoš Janáček - we'll get there next term. (There's an amazing Wiki site dating major operas here. And who was dominant in Italy? Puccini! (Tosca 1900, Butterfly 1904.) And he's just getting started.
Read about life after Merry Widow for Lehár here. "Lehár became wealthy and world-famous and his amiable personality won him many friends, among them, Giacomo Puccini. The two got together occasionally to play piano and sing music from their latest projects to each other. They conversed in Italian, another of Lehár's languages, as Puccini's German was shaky."
Our production
I purchased this recording for our session because Hanna is played by Yvonne Kenny - it was her first Merry Widow, in a production for San Francisco Opera, 2001. It used what one review described as "Christopher Hassall's Gilbert-and-Sullivanish English translation of the original German lyrics". (We'll see!)
It became a favourite role for Kenny. Ten years later, here's her entrance. and here's her Vilia song in a 2011 performance, on YouTube.
Full opera on YouTube? We have two!
Yes, there's a delightful full opera recording here, from 1996 - at New York City Opera. It's a great cast and very good sound though imperfect image of course. Jane Thorngren is Hanna, and Michael Hayes Danilo. (It's sung and spoken in English, with yet another new translation - but oh no, the words they give Danilo in the waltz [shock!!] don't include the required "I love you!"
And a bit more recently, here is the Sills/Titus San Diego production I mentioned before. Yes, it is here on YouTube in full. The Merry Widow from 1977 with Beverly Sills, Alan Titus, San Diego 1977.
Lyn 20/8/24
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