Der Dreispitz

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) was one of the last brilliantly creative composers of the Romantic, nationalistic tradition. The original version of “The Three-Cornered Hat” was composed for a pantomime, “The Corregidor and the Miller’s Wife”, which was adapted from a short story, “El Sombrero de tres picos”, by Pedro de Alarcon. This was produced in Madrid in 1917. Soon after, when Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes were touring Spain, Diaghilev urged him to arrange it as a ballet. The first performance of the ballet version with choreography by Massine took place in July, 1919 at the Alhambra Theater in London. The choreographer, dancer and ballet director Antonio (born Antonio Ruiz Soler in 1922) was the most famous Spanish dancer of his generation. A purist in his solo dances, he has tried in his ballets to create a synthesis of classic-academic and Spanish dance. His choreography of “The Three-Cornered Hat” was produced for television in 1974.

Die schöne Helena (La Belle Hélène)

Just as in “Orpheus in the Underworld”, this opera-travesty by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) also uses an ancient Greek subject as a means of caricaturing contemporary social and political issues. The main target of Offenbach’s barbs are the unscrupulousness and moral decline of France’s “Second Empire”. The action of the ancient saga of gods and heroes is stripped of its loftiness and parodistically reduced to an ironic display of very human motivations, weaknesses and excesses. “The ambivalence of Offenbach’s genius emerges here more clearly than in any other of his works – a genius that masters with the same skillfullness all the facets of musical expression: emotion and intellect, romance and parody.” (Bernard Grun, Cultural History of the Operetta)

Mahler, Symphony No.2 in C minor “Resurrection”

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is the first of Mahler’s symphonies to introduce voices – soprano, alto and chorus – into the orchestral texture, and the first to refer explicitly to his songs based on “Des Knaben Wunderhorn.” This it shares with the symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 as well, which stamps it as the first part of a trilogy. Mahler worked on it from 1888 to 1894 and conducted the first performance in Berlin on 13 December 1895. Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major re-appreciation of Mahler’s works.

Eine Nacht in Venedig

The operetta “Eine Nacht in Venedig” (A Night in Venice) was premiered in Berlin on 2 October 1883; barely a week later the Viennese were also able to celebrate the triumph of a new work by the “Waltz King.” The music of this comic opera perfectly matches the merry, carefree mood of the action. Melodies such as “Komm in die Gondel,” “Ach, wie so herrlich zu schau’n” and “Kommt, kommt, ihr holden Frauen!” are among the high points of the operetta. The stellar cast includes such eminent singers as Anton de Ridder, Sylvia Geszty, Trudeliese Schmidt and, as Ciboletta, Julia Migenes.

Gräfin Mariza

After “The Gypsy Princess”, which put him in the ranks of the most successful composers of light music, Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953) scored another international success with “Countess Mariza” in 1924. The special appeal of this operetta lies in the inventiveness and profusion of its melodic lines. An effective combination of humor and sentimentality is reinforced by elements of Hungarian folklore, elements which give the operetta its unforgettable charm.

Der Zarewitsch

With his operetta “Der Zarewitsch” (The Czarevitch), premiered in 1927, Franz Lehár was able to repeat the success of “Paganini” (world premiere in 1925), his first large operetta created especially for Richard Tauber. Arthur Maria Rabenalt’s stylish television adaptation, with icon-covered walls, a birch forest and perhaps the most beautiful romantic duets of all of Lehár’s operettas, is not only a feast for the eyes but for the ears as well. Teresa Stratas and Wieslaw Ochman make a simply enchanting couple through their singing, appearance and acting talent.

Mozart, Symphony No.29 in A major, K. 201

Filmed mainly in Vienna’s splendid “Musikvereinssaal,” the Mozart symphonies conducted by Karl Böhm are all interpreted by one of the world’s foremost orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, whose principal conductors have included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and, of course, Karl Böhm. “Thanks to Bruno Walter’s exemplary performances, particularly of Mozart’s works, I grabbed on to Mozart and fell in love with him so much that I had only one wish: to conduct Mozart, Mozart, Mozart.” (Karl Böhm) This scintillating little symphonic gem marks a new climax in Mozart’s treatment of the form: in addition to the forceful, clear-cut themes of the first and last movements, Mozart now makes a more refined and subtle use of counterpoint. The last movement also features the most dramatic development section thus far. Although certain aspects of the work may point to the influence of Michael Haydn, Joseph Haydn’s younger brother, Mozart basically dipped into the stock of proven orchestral devices and techniques, transforming them into inimitably “Mozartean” ideas. Karl Böhm was universally acclaimed for his Mozart interpretations. Though Wagner was one of Böhm’s first loves, his friendship with Richard Strauss led to a deep knowledge and appreciation of Mozart. In his autobiography, Böhm wrote that “Richard Strauss revealed to me the ultimate secrets of this, in my opinion, greatest of all musical geniuses, Mozart.” Böhm’s discovery of these secrets transformed his Mozart interpretations into unforgettable events.