Authentic Die Fledermaus

Orlofsky and Adele

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Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus comes from the Wiener Staatsoper and streams on OperaVision. Catch it while you can.

Conductor Franz Welser-Möst
Director Otto Schenk

Gabriel von Eisenstein Kurt Streit
Rosalinde Michaela Kaune
Frank Alfred Šramek
Prinz Orlofsky Zoryana
Kushpler Alfred Rainer Trost
Dr. Falke Markus Eiche
Dr. Blind Peter Simonischek
Adele Daniela Fally

This is as authentic a production of this the most famous of German operettas that you are likely to see, both theatrically and musically.   This is the most I have liked Franz Welser-Möst.  Of course, the orchestra he is conducting could play this in their sleep, but nevertheless it was stylistically quite wonderful.

The cast were all unfamiliar to me but were filled with joy and great comic intensity.  Who wouldn't want to go to a party where everyone was having this much fun.  Es lebe Champaigne der Erste.  We get all the old jokes.  The Viennese understand this better than anyone else.

Die Fledermaus from Dresden

Franz Welser-Möst (conductor) –

Jonas Kaufmann (Eisenstein),
Elisabeth Kulman (Prince Orlofsky),
Andreas Schager (Alfred)
Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Rosalinde)
Nicola Hillebrand (Adele)
and the Staatskapelle Dresden


I'd guess we did about 40 performances of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, so I pretty much know the whole thing by heart auf Deutsch.  No need for subtitles.  It's not really my Fledermaus in English.  So Jonas Kaufmann's first Eisenstein is a present to me via medici.tv.

An early favorite is the ensemble where they pretend to be sad and completely fail.  "Oh yeh, oh yeh."  This Orlofsky is something else.  She/he doesn't take no for an answer.  (If they cast a man as Orlofsky, I leave.)  The substitute Adele is excellent.

I was underwhelmed by the Rosalinde until she started into the Csárdás which was just right.  The soloists get champagne but the chorus doesn't.  We would never have stood for that.  It's also nice to hear such excellent German diction.  I miss Germany.

Jonas is fine as Eisenstein who is actually a high baritone, but the music for him isn't the focus of attention.  It's mainly an acting role, which we know he is also quite good at.

Thank you all for a happy new years eve performance.  Alles gute.

Die Fledermaus from Glyndebourne

Prince Orlofsky, Herr von Eisenstein

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Conductor:  Vladimir Jurowski
Director:  Stephen Lawless

Gabriel von Eisenstein tenor/baritone Thomas Allen
Rosalinde, Eisenstein's wife soprano Pamela Armstrong
Adele, Rosalinde's maid soprano Lyubov Petrova
Alfred, a singer teacher tenor Pär Lindskog
Dr Falke, a notary baritone Håkan Hagegård
Dr Blind, a lawyer tenor Ragnar Ulfung
Frank, a prison governor baritone Artur Horn
Prince Orlofsky mezzo-soprano (en travesti) Malena Ernman

I'm always on the lookout for a good Die Fledermaus in German, and I have found one from Glyndebourne 2003.  The deutsche Ausprache [German diction] is excellent.  It is for a long time commonplace to change the book for Fledermaus.  If you see 3 of them from 3 different places, the story will use 3 different versions of the spoken dialog, and I don't mean because it was translated.  In this version they talk quite a lot, thus the importance of good diction, but they skip the part in act I where Dr Falke personally invites Rosalinde to Orlofsky's party.

This is truly an outstanding cast.  Thomas Allen is perfect for Eisenstein, both as singer and as actor.  He is both affectionate and a bit indifferent toward his wife.  There is a joke where he pretends to be a tenor by tuning his wife's piano down.  He knows she prefers tenors.  I like the Rosalinde very much.  The dialog makes clear that Rosalinde and Alfred were former colleagues in the musical theater.

It is mentioned more than once that Prince Orlofsky is 18 and bored.  Bored is nothing new, but I don't recall hearing how old he is.  And Malena Ernman may be the greatest of all cross-dressers.  Why did I not mention her in my cross-dressing discussion?  Partly because I haven't seen her that much.  She doesn't make it to the west coast.  Did you know she sings Olympia and Queen of the night?  I certainly didn't.  She enjoys very much the theatrical side of opera.  She goes around patting the men on the butt.  Genial.  She ornaments the final verse of "Chacun a son gout."  I don't recall ever seeing that.

The stage rotates to show the entertainment.  Doctor Falke reveals many things to Rosalinde about her husband, all of which she forgives, until he tells her that he is actually not a tenor.  Then she threatens to murder him.  Herr and Frau Eisenstein go immediately to the watch seduction which she already knows all about.  "You may remove my mask tomorrow at breakfast."  He answers "Morgen habe ich andere Sorgen."  [Tomorrow I have other problems.]  One of my favorite lines.  Tomorrow he will be in jail.  She steals his watch and leaves. The watch scene is reasonably amusing.

Now comes the Csárdás.  This is the wrong order but works fine.  "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein" for Falke and chorus is a personal favorite.  There's a guy taking photographs.  Oops.

On to the jail.  Frosch's long pantomime is cut.  All proceeds exactly as it should except Orlofsky removes his disguise and shows Malena Ernman.  I smile and sing along.  "Und mein Schlafrock?"  "Requisite."  [And my dressing gown?  Properties.]  In this version everyone is part of the revenge set up, which explains a lot.  A good English translation of the title would be Revenge of the Bat.  I do love it so.
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Lovely Rita

 Efrain, Maria, Thomas

Saturday night, day of the Chinese new years parade, I drove to San Francisco to see Donizetti's Rita, subtitled the Beaten Husband (1841). This is a buffa for three characters by Gaetano Donizetti.  They are

Rita:  Maria Valdes, soprano
Beppe:  Thomas Glenn, tenor
Gasparo:  Efrain Solis, baritone

Rita is a domestic abuse plot.  At the beginning Rita is with Beppe.  They wake up in the morning, and he immediately begins to give her a pedicure, done with one of her legs on each of his shoulders.  He puts in the spacers and paints on the color while she sings an aria.  The second abuse incident is when she burns his face with a hot iron.  Caution!  No tenors were harmed in the playing of this opera.

Then her ex husband Gasparo shows up.  They are only ex because Rita and Gasparo each think that the other is dead.  Gasparo is back to find the marriage certificate so he can destroy it and marry a rich Canadian woman.  Beppe and Gasparo fight in slow motion so no one will hurt the other.  Cute.

The singing was in Italian and the dialog was in English.  Two of the singers are current Adler Fellows and Thomas Glenn is a past Adler Fellow.  Thomas is a very funny guy, and all three were fun to watch and listen to.

This was presented by the New Century Chamber Orchestra led by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.  Nadja is famous for behaving like a normal person in her performances.  In the classical world this is considered remarkable.  She is an exciting player and coaxes the same kind of emotional involvement from her fellow players.

In the first half of the program they played:

Mascagni (arr. Assad): Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
Verdi: Prestissimo from String Quartet in E minor
Massenet (arr. Assad): Meditation from Thais, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
J. Strauss (arr. Lindstrom): Overture to Die Fledermaus

I detected no coordination problems with the singers facing the audience most of the time and Nadja conducting the orchestra at the back of the stage.  I enjoyed it very much and can add this opera to my list.

Point of Departure

I don't have a lot of musical regrets, but I do regret that I never sang Orlofsky.  At this point in life I begin to regret how long it's been since I saw Die Fledermaus.  Anyway, Brigitte Fassbaender is the best.

Risë Stevens (1913-2013)

She was gorgeous enough to be a movie star.  She sings Schubert's "Ave Maria" with Bing Crosby in Going My Way.  Clearly it's her key.

She was one of the all time great Carmens.

She wrote that when filming for the movies, she would sing on set an octave down.

What the heck.  Here's another from the period just before she retired.

It is good to remember she was very sexy both in and out of drag.

Fledermaus Forever

Last night my alma mater, California State University, Sacramento, produced the greatest of all operettas--there is almost nothing in second place--Die Fledermaus. It lives forever because the story could be anywhere, any time. Last night it was New York City in 1970, and it was a perfect fit.

So perfect was the casting that you should be able to guess from the picture above who each character is.  Go ahead.  Guess.

From left to right in the first row are:

OMG. There is no credit for the Frosch in the yellow Converse Allstars and shower cap. We know this is an opera, but you must credit the actors, too. He smokes grass instead of drinking Slivovitz.

Next is Falke, sung by Matthew Surges. Falke always looks something like him.

Surely you guessed that the next person, Jonathan Hansen, sang Alfred. He was the most perfect Alfred I have ever seen.

The woman in the fur can only be Rosalinda, ably sung by Michelle Lajeunesse. Certainly you will have guessed this. I wouldn't have known she was sick if her mother hadn't told me. They cut the czardas. If you don't know when it comes, you don't miss it.

She is next to her Gabriel, sung by Andrew Nickell. He totally got this character.

The star of the evening is next. People shouted loudly when Vanessa Martucci took her bow as Adela. She sang both arias and was simply fabulous. When I think of the singers I fly around to see, few are more fabulous than she. I definitely preferred her to the nameless singer I recently flew to LA to see. She has it all.

We see only the white suit for the pleasant Orlofsky of Frances Swiecki.

This is the right end of the lineup:  Orlofsky, Frank (sung by Will Tvrdik, who did a bit of Groucho Marx), Horowitz the lawyer (sung by Anthony Tavianini), and two of the astounding nightclub workers. 

I have long been mad for Fledermaus and hum along in two languages.

There were some coordination problems due to the venue, a warehouse on R street. The small orchestra sat behind the set stage right, and the conductor stood behind the audience. It's hard to keep together in such an arrangement. There is apparently no credit for the conductor either, unless his name is Tatiana Scott. I'm confused.

All the old jokes appeared. Frosch draws a hook on the wall and hangs the hat on it. Apparently the jokes are forever as well.

One more thing. "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein" in the party was just as one would wish it. We loved every minute of it.