Despite the lack of libretto other than one online in German, this album has been a commercial success (there is a detailed plot summary). The reasons are easy to see: the recording offers a world premiere of Johann Strauss II's operetta Waldmeister, and this is top-grade Strauss, full of tunes that will please anyone who loves the "Waltz King" even though Strauss was nearly 70 when he wrote the work. The mistaken identity romance plot is not of great importance, anyhow. Strauss offers spoken dialogue, sparkling waltz, ...
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Despite the lack of libretto other than one online in German, this album has been a commercial success (there is a detailed plot summary). The reasons are easy to see: the recording offers a world premiere of Johann Strauss II's operetta Waldmeister, and this is top-grade Strauss, full of tunes that will please anyone who loves the "Waltz King" even though Strauss was nearly 70 when he wrote the work. The mistaken identity romance plot is not of great importance, anyhow. Strauss offers spoken dialogue, sparkling waltz, polka, and march songs (some of which saw renewed life as independent instrumental compositions), and more complex scenes that weave the two; the big tunes were hits in their own day. Brahms and the critic Eduard Hanslick attended the premiere, with Hanslick writing that the spirit of Mozart was alive in Strauss' orchestra. Anglophone listeners may also detect a bit of Arthur Sullivan in the melody types. It's all brought to life by a strong cast led by Martina Bortolotti von Haderburg...
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