Comments on: “Die lustige Witwe”: First CD Release Of The Original 1907 Berlin Cast

By: Philip Carli

Philip Carli — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 05:29:01 +0000

A couple of last things – Treumann may have been a very neuroticm eccentric, yet sensual Danilo, and excellent in the part, but Matzner was a much, much better singer and can really carry a line. Also, I don’t think another musical theatre piece of any kind was commercially recorded with complete dialogue until the 1950s. The extreme theatricality of this recording is one of the things that makes it so special..

By: Philip Carli

Philip Carli — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 05:14:08 +0000

This is truly a spectacular recording – I’ve been waiting decades to hear the 1907 set, and it exceeds my expectations in every respect. Less than 100 bars (much less) are cut from the score, and to call it “lively” doesn’t do it justice. Hearing pre-Great War theatrical German dialogue spoken (with more than an occasional touch of the clipped Berlin accent) is fascinating; it’s very fast, very clear, and very characterfully acted, and the singing is splendid. (Consider – here, the cast has no audience to bounce off, and they’re giving their all into two or maybe three gaping recording horns in a cramped, largely unventilated room with the orchestra piled on risers behind and around them. It wasn’t an environment naturally conducive to jollity, yet this is as joyful, well-played, and EXTREMELY well-sung LUSTIGE WITWE as I’ve ever heard, Matzner and Ottmann both sing superbly, as do Obermaier and the unjustly obscure Fred Carlo as Camille. Seidler-Winkler’s tempos verge on the headlong (which I love) but he also contributes considerable nuance. Pieces like the “Dummer, dummer Reitersmann”, the “Vilja -Lied”, and “Kimm ins’ kleiner Pavillon” are as good or better than anything on record. This is an aural painting, not just a picture – it is incredibly evocative. This is the happiest CD I’ve head this year, and I will revisit it frequently.

Incidentally one possible reason Joseph Coyne did not record anything from the piece is that he thoroughly disliked playing Danilo and hated being identified with the part.

By: John Groves

John Groves — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 09:37:59 +0000

Robert Evett recorded five 78 rpm sides with Elizabeth Firth for Columbia in October 1907: A Dutiful Wife and Love in My Heart Awakening each took 2 sides, plus Home which Evett sang as a solo. Both were in the original London cast. Surprisingly Neither Lily Elsie nor Joseph Coyne appeared to have recorded anything from the operetta.