# Operetta.....what are your favorites.....



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I was inspired by Woodduck to do this thread.

I like the fun spirit of operettas and there's
some great music there too.

What are your favorite operettas?
:tiphat:

You can add your favorite recordings if you like.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

All the Schwarzkopf champagne opera series with Ackermann conducting, though I do prefer the remake of *Die lustige Witwe*, with Wächter as Danilo and Von Matacic conducting.
The others are 
*Das Land des Lächelns
Wiener Blut
Eine Nacht in Venedig
Der Zigeunerbaron*
*Die Fledermaus* was conducted by Karajan (his first recording of the operetta) and has a wonderful cast in Schwarzkopf, Gedda, Streich and Kunz. Pity about the tenor Orlovsky, but Rudolf Christ is so good, I can put up with him.

Of Offenbach, I like 
*La Vie Parisienne
Orpheé aux Enfers
La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein
La Belle Hélène*
I like the Plasson recordings of the first three. Not sure which I'd go for for Hélène.

My father was a huge fan of operetta and conducted quite a lot. I remember loving Lehar's *Zigeunerliebe*, but I don't have a recording of it.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I favor the Austro-Hungarian operetta tradition. I like Johann Strauss's big two, _Die Fledermaus_ and _Der Ziguenerbaron._ Fledermaus is still probably the greatest operetta score ever written. My personal favorite may be Emmerich Kalman's _Grafin Mariza_ (Countess Maritza); the melodies are nonstop, and the Hungarian flavor gets my blood going (I'm half Hungarian). I'm surprisingly lukewarm about Lehar, and don't much care for _Merry Widow._ I've enjoyed Karl Millocker's _Gasparone._


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I would say I like all the really famous French, British and Austrian operettas, Strauss is perhaps my favourite. The Schwarzkopf series of recordings are wonderful, but I prefer more recent recordings of the complete works and am happy with the Schwarzkopf selections on the following:








(This is a really good introduction to Austrian operetta.)

I'm not hugely into Lehar, but I do enjoy Merry Widow and the following is a surprisingly good interpretation with Gardiner bringing out orchestral details that you don't perceive in other versions:








I tend to like the Cologne series for Strauss and am considering getting a couple of Kalman's in the series. Harnoncourt's Fledermaus and Gypsy Baron are good too (the Gypsy Baron includes music not found in other recordings of the operetta and is a reconstruction of Strauss' original ideas for something grander than an operetta, though still not quite an opera).

I like G&S and the Decca series of all the works are mostly unbeatable, here's the Iolanthe (although there is a newer reissue with a different design).








Offenbach is a favourite too. La Belle Helene and Vie Parisienne are the two I like best.

N.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

With a passion that's intense, I worship and adore Gilbert and Sullivan. I have loved them with a Florentine fourteenth-century frenzy for full 21 years!

_The Mikado_ is brilliant. G&S at their most inspired, with a well-constructed comedy about beheading, burial alive, and boiling in oil.

_Pirates_, _Patience_, and _Iolanthe _are also excellent.

_Princess Ida _has some of Sullivan's most operatic music, such as the "World is but a broken toy" quartet, the three hulking brothers' trio ("No, no, we are not intelligent!"), "This helmet I suppose...", the "Gently, gently, evidently" trio, two excellent finales - and, of course, Gama Rex.

I also love _The Grand Duke_, their last, generally unpopular work. It's full of clever ideas (the statutory duel, wheteby the loser is legally but not actually dead, and the winner has to take on his responsibilities), and has some great numbers: the sausage roll song; "Now take a card and gaily sing"; Ludwig's patter song in Greek ("In the period Socratic, every dining room was Attic - Which suggests an architecture of a topsy turvy kind"); Julia Jellicoe's Act II aria; the Herald's song; and the Roulette song. The wedding chorus is fun, so's the Baroness's hubble bubble song.

_The Sorcerer _is rather stodgy, but I like the incantation trio, the rollicking teapot finale, the Act II quartet, and "My name is John Wellington Wells".

_Ruddigore _satirises a genre that was old-fashioned even at the time, but it has THE patter trio, "The Ghosts' High Noon", and a heroine who lives life according to her little book of etiquette. "Here is peppermint rock for old gaffer Gadderby, a set of false teeth for pretty little Ruth Rowbottom, and a pound of snuff for the poor orphan girl on the hill."
Plus the line: "They are all mad-quite mad! ... they sing choruses in public."

_Utopia, Ltd _is a mess, but there's a wonderful soaring passage in the finale (about, of all things, the Joint Stock Company Act), and the minstrel ensemble is brilliant.

Offenbach is also wonderful - great tubes, funny, clever. Of the early ones, I most like _Ba-ta-clan _(with its revolutionary trio in gibberish Chinese) and _M Choufleuri restera chez lui le... _(great spoof of Italian opera). _Orphée_, _Belle Hélène_, _Grande Duchesse_, _Périchole_, _Brigands_, and _Vie Parisienne _all topnotch. _Hoffmann _is one of my favourite operas.

I like Suppé's overtures.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)




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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> I favor the Austro-Hungarian operetta tradition. I like Johann Strauss's big two, _Die Fledermaus_ and _Der Ziguenerbaron._ Fledermaus is still probably the greatest operetta score ever written. My personal favorite may be Emmerich Kalman's _Grafin Mariza_ (Countess Maritza); the melodies are nonstop, and the Hungarian flavor gets my blood going (I'm half Hungarian). I'm surprisingly lukewarm about Lehar, and don't much care for _Merry Widow._ I've enjoyed Karl Millocker's _Gasparone._


I am getting into Kalman. Years ago I heard a duet from Czardasfurstin sung by two amateurs in Italian translation, they were good singers but the music did nothing for me (it was so long ago I can't remember which duet it was). They also sang Lippen Schweigen from Witwe in a dreadful Italian translation that used to send me spacing!

I've listened to a few excerpts from Czardasfurstin and Grafin Mariza on the operetta set above and I love them. Which are the recordings to get of these? I only know the Rothenberger/Gedda ones, would you recommend them?

N.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I can't say I've had all that much exposure to operetta but _Orphée aux enfers_ is crackling with fun from beginning to end, and it includes a beautiful change of pace at the beginning of act I scene II when we are introduced to the sleeping gods (_entr'acte_ and _'slumber'_ chorus).


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

The EMI 10 disc set above is a fantastic introduction to the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian operetta tradition and the excerpts from Kalman's Czardasfurstin and Graefin Mariza lead to me wanting to hear more. I've spent the last two days glued to different recordings of these operettas on YouTube and I am in love! The EMI twofers of these operettas will soon be finding their way to my home soon!

There is an old family rumor that there is romani blood in the family, but I've always thought it was complete rubbish to be honest. After half an hour of Kalman, however I'm convinced it's true!

N.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned _Candide_.


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