Philip Behrens

I’m reminded of one of the first occasions when I spent any time with James Jorden. I first met James at a holiday party at Marco Schmid’s. On a later date, Marco (a great cook) invited both of us for dinner and lively opera conversation ensued, although I don’t remember getting much of a chance to speak that evening. After dinner, James, as he was wont to do, suggested we watch a VHS tape (yes, it’s been that long ago) he’d brought along; it turned out to be highlights of Gwyneth Jones—a great favorite of theirs, but definitely not one of mine.

After an unsubtle outdoor encounter between Elektra and Mom (Leonie Rysanek) concluded, this clip of Jones as Hanna began–my cue to exit.

There is, of course, also a Lustige Witwe starring Anja Silja, conducted by no less than Christoph von Dohnanyi, her husband at the time.

Behrens undertook Hanna Glawari at 62. Today’s performance originates from Munich’s Gaertnerplatz and came almost exactly a year after Behrens’s final Met performances as Marie in Wozzeck, some twenty-three years after her debut there as Giorgetta in Il Tabarro.

Trove Thursday a while back offered a Lustige Witwe starring Edda Moser.

Might there be a full-length Lehár operetta in the future for this diva of today?

Lehár: Die Lustige Witwe

Hanna Glawari: Hildegard Behrens
Valencienne: Hlín Pétursdóttir
Graf Danilo: Thomas [Gazheli] Holzapfel
Camille de Rosillon: Thomas Sigwald
Baron Mirko Zeta: Klaus-Dieter Lerche
Njegus: Ferry Gruber

Conductor: David Stahl
Staatstheaters am Gaertnerplatz
5 May 2000
In-house recording

Today’s Lustige Witwe can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.

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Christopher Corwin

Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.

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