1.
Operetta
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Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. By this time, the part of the genre name had become misleading. With this new connotation, opéra comique had dominated the French operatic stage since the decline of tragédie lyrique, most researchers acknowledge that the credit for creating the operetta form should go to Hervé, a singer, composer, librettist, conductor, and scene painter. In 1842 he wrote the little opérette, LOurs et le pacha, based on the vaudeville show by Scribe. In 1848, Hervé made his first notable appearance on the Parisian stage, with Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança, hervés most famous works are the Gounod-parody Le Petit Faust and Mamzelle Nitouche. Jacques Offenbach further developed and popularized operetta, giving it its enormous vogue during the Second Empire, Offenbachs earliest one-act pieces included Les deux aveugles, Le violoneux and Ba-ta-clan, and his first full-length operetta success was Orphée aux enfers. Offenbachs tradition was carried on by Robert Planquette, André Messager. What characterizes Offenbachs operettas is both the way they portray life, and the extremely frivolous way this is done. The character was modeled after Offenbachs female star Hortense Schneider. Considering how Zolas Nana describes an Offenbach-style operetta performance in Paris, it is not surprising that the mostly male, upper-class audiences in other cities like Vienna and Berlin longed to see these shows in their home towns as well, which inspired worldwide performance of Offenbachs works. The highly erotic way Offenbachs operettas were originally played, with stars like Hortense Schneider created a reaction from certain parts of the general public. Operetta was considered an art form. Indeed, together with its grotesque qualities, frivolity is one of the elements of authentic operetta à la Offenbach. It was only later, when audiences widened and became more middle and lower class, the most significant composer of operetta in the German language was the Austrian Johann Strauss II. His first operetta was Indigo und die vierzig Räuber and his third operetta, Die Fledermaus, became the most performed operetta in the world, and remains his most popular stage work. Its libretto was based on a written by Offenbachs librettists. In all, Strauss wrote 16 operettas and one opera, most with great success when first premiered, many of his lesser operettas are now largely forgotten, since his later librettists were less talented and he often composed independently of the plot. Strausss operettas, waltzes, polkas, and marches often have a strongly Viennese style, the Theater an der Wien never failed to draw huge crowds when his stage works were first performed
2.
Komische Oper Berlin
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The Komische Oper Berlin is an opera company in Berlin, Germany, which specializes in German language productions of opera, operetta and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from the famous Berlin street Unter den Linden. Since 2004 the Komische Oper Berlin, like the Berlin State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Berlin State Ballet, the theatre was built between 1891 and 1892 by architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer for a private society. It first opened on 24 September 1892 as Theater Unter den Linden with Adolf Ferrons operetta Daphne and Gaul, the theatre was primarily a vehicle for operetta, but was also used for various other events and balls. Around 800 people could be seated in the stalls, and the balconies and its directors went bankrupt in 1896 and the theatre was forced to close its doors. On 3 September 1898 the theatre was reopened as Metropol-Theater with Julius Freunds revue Paradies der Frauen and it then grew to become one of Berlins most famous and successful variety theatres. During the 1920s and early 1930s, it was leased by the brothers [Alfred, under their management, it saw the premieres of two operettas by Franz Lehár - Friederike in 1928 and Das Land des Lächelns in 1929, both starring Richard Tauber. However, due to a decline of variety and music hall entertainment the theatre was closed in 1933. In 1934 the theatre was nationalised and renamed Staatliches Operettentheater and it operated as part of the Nazi Kraft durch Freude entertainment and leisure programmes. During World War II, the auditorium was damaged by Allied bombing on 7 May 1944, the façade, entrance hall, and auditorium ceiling murals were destroyed by bombs on 9 March 1945. After the war, the theatre was in East Germany, being that the building was in the part of Berlin. Following repair works and provisional rebuilding, the theatre reopened on 23 December 1947, the 1950s saw various further alterations and extensions. The theatre was rebuilt in 1965/1966 by Architektenkollektiv Kunz Nierade, adding functional extensions. The theatre reopened again on 4 December 1966, with Mozarts Don Giovanni, the auditorium underwent further restoration in 1986, and the stage technology was further modernised by 1989. In 1947, Walter Felsenstein founded and led the resident opera company, götz Friedrich was an assistant to Felsenstein at the company. Joachim Herz became general director after Felsensteins death and served until 1981, subsequently, Harry Kupfer directed the company for 21 seasons, until 2002. The company specializes in German language productions of opera, operetta, in 2007 the company won, jointly with Oper Bremen, the Opera house of the year award by the German magazine Opernwelt. Since 2002, the chief director and Intendant has been Andreas Homoki
3.
Libretto
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A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata. Libretto, from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro, sometimes other language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works and Textbuch for German. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. The relationship of the librettist to the composer in the creation of a work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources. In the context of a modern English language musical theatre piece, Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe and his libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozarts greatest operas, as well as for other composers. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. The French writers duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote a number of opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach, Jules Massenet. Arrigo Boito, who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli, the libretto is not always written before the music. Some composers wrote their own libretti, Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz, too, wrote the libretti for two of his works, La Damnation de Faust and Les Troyens. Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchners play Woyzeck for the libretto of Wozzeck, sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer, this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Belsky, or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics, thus, a musical such as Fiddler on the Roof has a composer, a lyricist and the writer of the book. In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements - music, lyrics and libretto, Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. A famous case of the latter is Wagners 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris, since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. The libretto of a musical, on the hand, is almost always written in prose
4.
Richard Tauber
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Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor. After he was adopted by his father in 1913, his name became Richard Denemy-Tauber. Richard accompanied his mother on tour to theatres, but she found it difficult to cope. In 1897–98 he was sent to school in Linz, and then his father took over his upbringing, moving him to Graz, Prague, Berlin, Salzburg and finally Wiesbaden. His father, who was born Jewish but had converted to Roman Catholicism, the boy missed the excitement of the theatre and instead joined his father in Prague and, subsequently, in 1903 at the theatre in Wiesbaden. Richard hoped to become a singer but failed to any of the teachers he auditioned for, probably because he chose to sing Wagner. His father entered him at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt to study piano, composition and he made rapid progress but he still hoped to become a singer. After an intensive period of training under Carl Beines, he made his public debut at a concert at Freiburg on 17 May 1912. That year his father was appointed Intendant of the Municipal Theatre in Chemnitz and was therefore in a position to arrange for Richard to appear as Tamino in The Magic Flute on 2 March 1913, the Baron encouraged Tauber to take small roles with other companies to broaden his experience. People started to call him the SOS Tenor, following some guest appearances at the Wiener Volksoper in 1920, he made his Vienna State Opera debut on 16 June in La bohème, substituting for an indisposed Alfred Piccaver. It was in June 1919 that he made the first of seven hundred gramophone records. All his vocal recordings were made for the Odeon Records label, Tauber had a lyrical, flexible tenor voice, and he sang with a warm, elegant legato. His excellent breath control gave him a wonderful head voice and messa di voce with a superb pianissimo. He was elegant in appearance too – although he had a slight squint in his eye, he disguised it by wearing a monocle which. Tauber first performed in an operetta by Franz Lehár at the Volksbuhne in Berlin in 1920 and this was Zigeunerliebe, in which he also appeared in Linz and Salzburg in 1921. In 1922 he was offered the role of Armand in Lehárs Frasquita at the Theater an der Wien, and this excursion into operetta was looked down on by some, but did Tauber no harm. It gave him a new audience. It revived Lehárs flagging career as a composer of operetta, the hit songs usually occurred in the second act and were informally known as Tauberlieder. Tauber appeared in a number of films, both in Germany and later in England and he provided a voice-over, singing the title song in the otherwise silent film I Kiss Your Hand, Madame
5.
Theater an der Wien
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The Theater an der Wien is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, since 2006, it has served primarily as an opera house, hosting its own company. Although Wien is German for Vienna, the Wien in the name of the theatre is actually the name of the Wien River, which flowed by the theatre site. In modern times, the river has been covered over in this location and the riverbed now houses the Naschmarkt. The theatre is operated in cooperation with Vereinigte Bühnen Wien which also operates the Raimund Theater, the theatre was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who is best known as Mozarts librettist and collaborator on the opera The Magic Flute. Schikaneders troupe had already been performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller Theater auf der Wieden. As the troupes performances often emphasized spectacle and scenery, the librettist felt ready to move to a larger and better equipped venue. He had already granted an imperial licence to build a new theatre in 1786. The building was designed by the architect Franz Jäger in Empire style, the theatre has been described as the most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age. The theatre opened on 13 June 1801 with a written by Schikaneder followed by a performance of the opera Alexander by Franz Teyber. The new theatre proved to be a sensation, adolf Bäurle, a local critic, wrote if Schikaneder and Zitterbarth had had the idea. To charge admission simply for looking at the glories of their Theater an der Wien, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called it the most comfortable and satisfactory in the whole of Germany. In 1807 the theatre was acquired by a group of nobles that included Count Ferdinand Palffy von Erdöd. He is accompanied by the Three Boys, characters in the same opera, in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, the theatre experienced a golden age during the flourishing of Viennese operetta, as referenced in the list below. From 1945 to 1955, it was one of the homes of the Vienna State Opera. However, in 1955, the theatre was closed for safety reasons and it languished unused for several years, and by the early 1960s, the threat had emerged that it would be converted to a parking garage. Fortunately, in 1962 the theatre found a new and successful role for itself as a venue for musical theatre. Many English-language musicals had their German premieres there, the musical Cats directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne played successfully for seven years
6.
1923 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1923. February – Joseph Samuels Tampa Blue Jazz Band records the George Washington Thomas number The Fives for Okeh Records, november 11 – Première of John Fouldss World Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is repeated on that date each year until 1926, George Enescu makes his debut as a conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra in New York City. Henri Pawl-Pleyel, Roger Désormière, Maxime Jacob and Henri Sauguet form the Ecole dArcueil, augustus John completes his portrait of cellist Guilhermina Suggia. Japanese composer Michio Miyagi introduces an 80-string koto or or hachijugen and it proves less popular than the 17-string koto he had invented two years earlier. Ray Henderson Back To Croa-Jingo-Long w. m, pat Dunlop Bambalina w. Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Herbert Stothart & Vincent Youmans. Introduced by Edith Day in the musical Wildflower Barney Google w. m, Billy Rose & Con Conrad Beside A Babbling Brook w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson Charleston w. m. Cecil Mack & James P. Johnson, chimes Blues m. Joe King Oliver Come On, Spark Plug. w. m. Billy Rose & Con Conrad Covered Wagon Days w. m, will Morrisey & Joe Burrows Dizzy Fingers m. Franz Lehár Gulf Coast Blues w. m. Clarence Williams Horsey, Walter Hirsch & Bert Kaplan I Cried For You w. Arthur Freed m. Gus Arnheim & Abe Lyman I Love Life w. Irwin M. Cassel m, mana-Zucca I Love You w. Harlan Thompson m. Harry Archer. Introduced by John Boles and Margaret Wilson in the musical Little Jessie James I Wont Say I Will But I Wont Say I Wont w. B. G. De Sylva & Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Irene Bordoni in the play Little Miss Bluebeard Im Goin South w. m, abner Silver & Harry Woods Im Sitting Pretty In A Pretty Little City w. m. Lou Davis, Henry Santly & Abel Baer Indiana Moon w. Benny Davis m. Isham Jones It Aint Gonna Rain No Mo w. m, wendell Hall Ive Got The Yes. We Have No Bananas Blues w. Lew Brown m. James F. Hanley & Robert King Just A Girl That Men Forget w. Al Dubin & Fred Rath m. Joe Garron Just One More Chance m. Steiger King Porter Stomp m. Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton Last Night On The Back Porch w. Lew Brown m, carl Schraubstader Linger Awhile w. Harry Owens m. Vincent Rose Louisville Lou w. Jack Yellen m, milton Ager Mama Goes Where Papa Goes w. Jack Yellen m. Milton Ager Mama Loves Papa w. m, cliff Friend & Abel Baer March Of The Cameron Men w. m
