''Paganini'' is an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

in three acts by

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is ''The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life ...

. The German

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

was by and

Bela Jenbach Bela Jenbach, real name Béla Jacobowicz (1 April 1871 in Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary – 21 January 1943 in Vienna) was an Austrian actor and operetta librettist of Hungarian origin. Jenbach was of Jewish origin and the brother of the screenwri ...

. Lehár composed the work as a vehicle for

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

, the acclaimed Austrian

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

, though he assumed the role (with

Vera Schwarz Vera Schwarz (10 July 1888 - 4 December 1964) was an Austrian soprano, known primarily for her operetta partnership with Richard Tauber. Life Vera Schwarz was born in Zagreb, the daughter of Hungarian-Croatian aviation pioneer David Schwarz. ...

as the princess) in Berlin on 30 January 1926, rather than the Vienna premiere which was at the Johann Strauss Theater on 30 October 1925 with

Carl Clewing Theodor Rudolph Carl Clewing ( 22 April 1884 – 15 May 1954) was a German operatic tenor/heldentenor, stage and film actor, composer of the song ''Alle Tage ist kein Sonntag'' and professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Life Born i ...

in the title role. Tauber's contract with the

Berlin State Opera The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

required him to be in Stockholm at the time of the Vienna premiere. The operetta was so coolly received in Vienna that the Berlin impresario, Heinz Saltenberg, was reluctant to mount it at the without guarantees against losses. In the event, Tauber and Schwarz made it a huge success in Berlin, where it ran for three months. It was the first Lehár operetta specially written for Tauber, who had previously appeared in the composer's ''

Zigeunerliebe ''Gipsy Love'' (German title ''Zigeunerliebe'') is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár with a libretto by Alfred Willner and Robert Bodanzky, provided with English translations and revisions by several hands. The story centres on the daug ...

'' in 1920 and ' in 1922 with great success. A new production was mounted in Berlin at the

Theater des Westens The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedi ...

in April 1930, again with Tauber and Schwarz, and the composer conducting at the opening night on Easter Sunday. An English version with lyrics by

A. P. Herbert Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH (A. P. Herbert, 24 September 1890 – 11 November 1971), was an English humorist, novelist, playwright, law reformist, and in 1935–1950 an independent Member of Parliament for Oxford University. Born in Ashtead, Su ...

was presented by

C. B. Cochran Sir Charles Blake Cochran (25 September 1872 31 January 1951), generally known as C. B. Cochran, was an English theatrical manager and impresario. He produced some of the most successful musical revues, musicals and plays of the 1920s and 193 ...

at the Lyceum Theatre in London in May 1937, with Tauber as Paganini and

Evelyn Laye Evelyn Laye (née Elsie Evelyn Lay; 10 July 1900 – 17 February 1996) was an English actress who was active on the London light opera stage, and later in New York and Hollywood. Her first husband, actor Sonnie Hale, left her for Jessie M ...

as Anna Elisa. They recorded seven numbers from the show for

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 19 ...

, including the new number 'Fear Nothing' that Lehár had written for the London production. In 1934 the operetta was adapted into the German film '' Paganini''.

Roles

Synopsis

Set in Lucca, the story concerns the love affair of Niccolò Paganini, the irresistibly charming violinist, with Élisa Bonaparte, the arts and theatre-loving younger sister of Napoleon.

Notable arias

* "Schönes Italien" (Paganini) * "Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden" (Maria Anna Elisa) * "Mit den Frau'n auf Du und Du" (Bella Giretti – Pimpinelli) * "Niemand liebt dich so wie ich" (Maria Anna Elisa – Paganini) * "Einmal möcht' ich was Närrisches tun" (Bella Giretti – Pimpinelli) * "Gern hab ich die Fraun geküsst" (Paganini) * "Deinen süssen Rosenmund..." (Paganini) * "Wo meine Wiege stand, ich weiss es nicht" (Maria Anna Elisa)

Recordings

*Lehár: ''Paganini'',

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

Chorus, Bavarian Symphony Orchestra; conductor:

Willi Boskovsky Willibald Karl Boskovsky (16 June 1909 – 21 April 1991) was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert from 1955 to 1979. Biography Boskovsky was born in Vienna, and joined the ...

; principal singers:

Nicolai Gedda Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, known professionally as Nicolai Gedda (11 July 1925 – 8 January 2017), was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1951, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made h ...

Anneliese Rothenberger Anneliese Rothenberger (19 June 191924 May 2010) was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1942 to 1983. She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly adm ...

Heinz Zednik Heinz Zednik (born February 21, 1940) is an Austrian operatic buffo tenor, closely associated with the character tenor roles of Richard Wagner, Wagner such as Mime and Loge (''Der Ring des Nibelungen'') and David (''Die Meistersinger von Nürnber ...

Benno Kusche Benno Paul Kusche (30 January 1916 – 14 May 2010) was a German operatic baritone, who was praised as one of the best Mozart and Wagner singers, especially in character roles and opera buffa. Career Born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Kusche was th ...

Olivera Miljaković Olivera Miljaković ( sr-Cyrl, Оливера Миљаковић, ; born 26 April 1934S. Đ. K. (Đurić Klajn, Stana), Miljaković, Olivera, ''Muzička enciklopedija'', vol. 2, Zagreb: Jugoslavenski leksikografski Zavod, 1974, pp. 586–587 is ...

, Friedrich Lenz; Recording date: 1977; Label:

EMI Classics EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded musi ...

CD 65968

References

* * Lamb, Andrew (1992), "''Paganini''" in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

(London) {{Authority control Operas by Franz Lehár German-language operettas 1925 operas Operas Operas adapted into films Operas based on real people Operas set in Italy Operas set in the 19th century Works about music and musicians Cultural depictions of Niccolò Paganini