The Merry Widow discography

This is a discography of The Merry Widow (German: Die lustige Witwe), an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. It was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 30 December 1905. The operetta has been recorded both live and in the studio many times, and several video recordings have been made.[1][2] The first recording of a substantially complete version of the score was made in 1907 with Marie Ottmann and Gustav Matzner in the lead roles.[3] The next full recording was issued in 1950, in English with Dorothy Kirsten and Robert Rounseville in the leading roles.[3]

In 1953, EMI's Columbia label released a near-complete version[4] produced by Walter Legge, conducted by Otto Ackermann, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Hanna, Erich Kunz as Danilo, Nicolai Gedda as Camille and Emmy Loose as Valencienne. It was sung in German, with abridged spoken dialogue.[5] Loose sang Valencienne again for Decca in the first stereophonic recording, produced in 1958 by John Culshaw, with Hilde Gueden, Per Grundén and Waldemar Kmentt in the other main roles, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Stolz.[6] A second recording with Schwarzkopf as Hanna was issued by Columbia in 1963; the other main roles were sung by Eberhard Wächter, Gedda and Hanny Steffek.[3] This set, conducted by Lovro von Matačić, has been reissued on CD in EMI's "Great Recordings of the Century" series.[7] Among later complete or substantially complete sets are those conducted by Herbert von Karajan with Elizabeth Harwood as Hanna (1972); Franz Welser-Möst with Felicity Lott (1993); and John Eliot Gardiner with Cheryl Studer (1994).[3]

The Ackermann recording received the highest available rating in the 1956 The Record Guide[5] and the later EMI set under Matačić is highly rated by the 2008 The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music,[7] but Alan Blyth in his Opera on CD regrets the casting of a baritone as Danilo in both sets and prefers the 1958 Decca version.[8] Among the filmed productions on DVD, the Penguin Guide recommends the one from the San Francisco Opera, recorded live in 2001, conducted by Erich Kunzel and directed by Lotfi Mansouri, with Yvonne Kenny as Hanna and Bo Skovhus as Danilo.[7]

The recordings listed below are sung in German unless otherwise noted.

Audio

Date Recording Conductor Orchestra (if known) Notes
1906 unknown
1907 studio Bruno Seidler-Winkler Grammophon-Streich-Orchester with dialogue
1931 studio (excerpts) unknown Sung in Spanish
193? studio (excerpts) Paul Minsart Grand Orchestra French
1943-44 studio (excerpts) Isaac Van Grove English
1948? studio (excerpts) Max Rudolf English
1950 radio Wilhelm Stephan Sinfonieorchester des Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunks, Hamburg
1950? studio (excerpts) Al Goodman Al Goodman Orchestra English
1950? studio Victor Reinshagen Tonhalle Orchester Zürich
1951? studio (excerpts) George Greeley English
1952 studio (excerpts) Lehman Engel English
1953 studio (excerpts) Jules Gressier Orchestre Lamoureux French
1953 studio Otto Ackermann Philharmonia Orchestra
1953? studio (excerpts) Heinz Sandauer Das große Funkorchester von Radio Wien
1955 studio (excerpts) Enrique Montorio,
Ricardo Navarro,
Daniel Estavarena
Orquesta de Cámera de Madrid Spanish
1956? studio Marcel Cariven Grande Orchestra French
1957 studio (excerpts) Hans Hagen Vienna Volksoper
1958 studio (excerpts) William Reid Sadler's Wells Opera English
1958 studio Robert Stolz Vienna State Opera
1959? studio (excerpts) R Chevreux French
1959? studio (excerpts) Egon Kjerrman
1959? studio (excerpts) Richard Müller-Lampertz French
195? radio Max Schönherr Das große Funkorchester von Radio Wien
195? studio (excerpts) Richard Blareau French
195? studio (excerpts) Cesare Gallino Orchestra Lirica Cetra Italian
195? studio (excerpts) Franz Marszalek Großes Operetten-Orchester
195? studio (excerpts) Edmund Nick Munich Philharmonic
195? studio (excerpts) Wilhelm Stephan Großes Operetten-Orchester
1960 studio (excerpts) Franck Pourcel Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire French
1960? studio (excerpts) Anton Paulik Großes Operetten-Orchester
1960? studio (excerpts) Werner Schmidt-Boelcke FFB Orchester
1960? studio (excerpts) George Walter The Opera Society Orchestra
1961 studio (excerpts) Lehman Engel English
1961 studio (excerpts) John Hollingsworth Sinfonia of London English
1962 studio Lovro von Matačić Philharmonia Orchestra
1962? studio (excerpts) Franz Allers American Opera Society English
1962? studio (excerpts) Jacques Pastory French
1964 studio (excerpts) Franz Allers Music Theater of Lincoln Center English
1964? studio (excerpts) Rudolf Neuhaus Dresden Philharmonic
1965 studio Robert Stolz Berliner Sinfoniker
1966 studio Yvon Leenart Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire French
1967 studio (excerpts) Willy Mattes Das Symphonieorchester Graunke
1968 studio (excerpts) Franz Marszalek Großes Operetten-Orchester
1968? studio (excerpts) Franz Bauer-Theussl Vienna State Opera orchestra and Volksoper
1968? studio (excerpts) Vilém Tauský English
196? studio (excerpts) J. Armitage Fuggle Harrow Light Opera Company English
196? studio (excerpts) Paul Popescu Romanian National Opera Rumanian
196? studio A Mikhailov Moscow Operetta Theater Russian
1970 radio Adolphe Sibert (Siebert) Orchestre Lyrique de l'O.R.T.F. French
1972 studio Herbert von Karajan Berlin Philharmonic
1974 live Armando Krieger Spanish
1976 studio (excerpts) Alexander Gibson Scottish Philharmonia English
1977 studio (excerpts) Richard Bonynge National Philharmonic Orchestra English
1978 studio (excerpts) Julius Rudel New York City Opera English
1980 studio Heinz Wallberg Munich Radio Orchestra
1982 live Rudolf Bibl Vienna Volksoper
1986 live Baldo (Bruno) Podic Lyric Opera of Chicago English
1986 studio (excerpts) Barry Wordsworth New Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra English
1989 live (composite) Yoko Matsuo Tokyo Symphony Orchestra Japanese
198? studio Algis Ziuraidis Large Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Radio and TV Russian
1993 live (composite) Franz Welser-Möst London Philharmonic Orchestra
1994 studio John Eliot Gardiner Vienna Philharmonic
1997 Helmut Froschauer Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Köln
19?? radio Cesare Gallino RAI Torino Italian
19?? studio (excerpts) ? Bessière French
19?? studio (excerpts) Jean Doussard French
19?? studio (excerpts) Jean Doussard French
19?? studio (excerpts) Laszlo Makláry Budapest Operetta Theatre
19?? studio (excerpts) Boris Mersson Orchestre des Concerts de Paris French
19?? Hans Killer French
2000 live Andrew Davis Metropolitan Opera English
2004 live Kirill Petrenko Metropolitan Opera English
2005 studio Rudolf Bibl Orchester des Seefestspiele Mörbisch
2006 live Cyril Diederich Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne French
2007 live Graeme Jenkins Dallas Civic Opera English

Video

Date Recording Conductor Cast: Hanna, Danilo Orchestra
1952 film (in English) Jay Blackton Trudy Erwins, Fernando Lamas
1977 live (in English) Theo Alcántara Beverly Sills, Alan Titus San Diego Opera
1983 live (in French) Armin Jordan Anne Howells, Mikael Melbye Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
1986 live Christoph von Dohnányi Anja Silja, Kurt Schreibmayer La Monnaie
1988 live (in English) Richard Bonynge Joan Sutherland, Ronald Stevens Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra
1990 live (in Italian) Daniel Oren Raina Kabaivanska, Mikael Melbye Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
1993 live Konstantin Schenk Elisabeth Kales, Peter Edelmann Philharmonie Bratislava
1997 live Armin Jordan Karita Mattila, Bo Skovhus Opéra national de Paris
2001 live (in English) Erich Kunzel Yvonne Kenny, Bo Skovhus San Francisco Opera
2003 live Franz Welser-Möst Dagmar Schellenberger, Rodney Gilfry Zurich Opera House
2005 live Rudolf Bibl Margarita de Arellano, Mathias Hausmann Orchester des Seefestspiele Mörbisch
2007 live Manfred Honeck Petra Maria Schnitzer, Bo Skovhus Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

References

Notes
  1. Die lustige Witwe recordings. operadis-opera-discography.org.uk, accessed 10 May 2011
  2. Kenrick, John. "Merry Widow 101: Discography". Musicals101.com, 2006, accessed 28 July 2011
  3. 1 2 3 4 O'Connor, Patrick. "A Viennese Whirl", Gramophone, October 2005, pp. 48–52
  4. It omits "Das ist der Zauber der Stillen Häuslichkeit": see O'Connor, Patrick. "A Viennese Whirl", Gramophone, October 2005, p. 50
  5. 1 2 Sackville-West, pp. 401–402
  6. Stuart, Philip. "Decca Classical, 1929-2009". Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, July 2009, accessed 11 May 2011
  7. 1 2 3 March, p. 698
  8. Blyth, pp. 138–139
Sources
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