Lehar Merry

The Land of Smiles was, after The Merry Widow, the biggest of Lehar's successes, an unusually tragic and serious operetta that he rewrote from an earlier failure, The Yellow Jacket. Richard Tauber originated the role of Prince Sou-Chong, the Chinese diplomat, and everyone since has stood in his shadow. A very serious work for an operetta, it is filled with achingly beautiful melodies and complex characterizations, as well as a score of Puccini-like delicacy and richness.

The heroine of 'La Veuve Joyeuse' is called Missia Palmieri, but she had started off in 1905 as Hanna Glawari in Vienna, where this operetta is known as Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow); its French premiere followed in 1909. The story of the merry widow and her rekindled romance with dissipated diplomat Count Danilo takes place in Paris - notably chez Maxim's in the final act - and in fact has its roots in a French play, L'attache d'ambassade by Henri Meilhac…

Esteemed tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, returns with his sensational new album "WIEN". This must-have album showcases the crowd-pleasing evergreens that turned Vienna into a beloved capital of classical music. "WIEN" features a stunning collection of operetta hits and Viennese songs composed between 1870 and 1950 - Kaufmann teams up with the world renowned Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Adam Fisher. Vienna’s heyday for operetta produced stage-hits such as Johann Strauß’s ‘Komm in die Gondel’ (from Eine Nacht in Venedig / A Night in Venice) the ‘Clock Duet’ from Die Fledermaus and the ‘Title duet’ from Wiener Blut, as well as Franz Léhar’s ‘Lippen Schweigen’ from The Merry Widow.