Organization

Sänger

Eva Maria Kaufmann

No role specified

Martina Serafin

Gabriel Bermúdez

Boguslaw Bidzinski

Rod Gilfry

Guido Götzen

Herbert Prikopa

Dirigat

Franz Welser-Möst

Regie

Helmuth Lohner

Gudrun Hartmann

Kostümbild

Rolf Langenfass

Bühnenbild

Lichtgestaltung

Robertus Cremer

Chordirektion

Ernst Raffelsberger

Bariton

Rudolf A Hartmann

Baron Mirko Zeta

Sopran

Ute Gferer

Valencienne

Dagmar Schellenberger

Hannah Glawari

Tenor

Piotr Beczała

Camille de Rossilon

Opernhaus Zürich

Others

Chor der Oper Zürich

Orchestra

Philharmonia Zürich

Die lustige Witwe

Zürich

Schweiz

Opernhaus

To save the billions belonging to the young and attractive widow Hanna Glawari for his country Pontevedro, Baron Zeta initiates a very special matchmaking: he commands the charming womanizer Count Danilo Danilowitsch to carry out his patriotic duty in marrying the widow. What the baron cannot have known is that Danilo and Hanna already had a relationship in the past… Helmut Lohner really excels in presenting this amusing love story on stage. The gorgeous set (mainly designed in red and gold), the elegant costumes (with an accomplished mix of traditional costumes and Parisian evening attire, which perfectly reflects the mix in Lehár’s composition), and the presentation of the characters (with a shrewd eye-twinkling) add up to a formidable whole.

Pleasure for the sake of pleasure.

The Merry Widow blends skillfully the elements that made the success of the genre of the operetta: lightheartedness, cheekiness, slapsticks of every kind; elements brought to the fore with brio by the remarkable production of Helmut Lohner, and the stunning Dagmar Schellenberger in the role of Hanna Glawari.

Against the French Grand Opera ridden with deadly serious plots and pompous bombast, the operetta emerged as an anti-intellectual genre mocking the academic codes set forth by the Meyerbeer-Scribe couple. In this respect, no one defines better the operetta than the witty Saint-Saëns: "the operetta is an opera-comique's daughter that went bad, but this kind of girls are usually not deprived of charm." And indeed, The Merry Widow , created in Vienna in 1905, was performed more than 20,000 times over the four following years!

A hint of nostalgia arises in watching Lehar's masterwork. Swirling waltz, dizzying celebrations remind us of the final splendor of the 19th century, of the Belle Époque's exuberance.

Die lustige Witwe by Lehár, Ab (2003/2004), Unter der Regie von Helmuth Lohner, Gudrun Hartmann,, Dirigat Franz Welser-Möst, Opernhaus, Zürich, Schweiz

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