Euryanthe

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Euryanthe is a German Romantic opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna on 25 October 1823. Though acknowledged as one of Weber's most important operas, the work is rarely staged due to the confused libretto by Helmine von Chezy.

There have been, nevertheless, several champions of this work. The musicologist Donald Francis Tovey regarded it as musically superior to Wagner's much better-known opera Lohengrin (whose plot and music echo Euryanthe in several respects, especially with regard to the use of Leitmotiv technique), and Arturo Toscanini conducted the La Scala premiere. Carlo Maria Giulini performed it at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and several historic recordings of the opera are now available. It has also been staged more frequently in recent years, and a DVD videorecording from the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari under Gerard Korsten is now commercially available. The 1976 premiere studio recording of the complete score features singers Jessye Norman, Nicolai Gedda, Tom Krause, and Rita Hunter; the Staatskapelle Dresden is conducted by Marek Janowski (who has also made superb recordings of Weber's other major operas Der Freischütz and Oberon).