Ambassador of Operetta
M. Zachary Johnson
January 18, 2008
A gently rollicking romantic waltz sets the mood, bringing us back to the emotional world of America over a half-century ago. The music fades into the background, and we hear the clear, articulate voice of a radio announcer:
"From Vienna to New York comes an ambassador an ambassador who makes music, not politics, his business. His name is Emmerich Kálmán. Together with Franz Lehár and Oscar Straus, he stands in the front rank of the composers of continental musical comedy.... Tonight the National Broadcasting Company is privileged to be able to introduce Emmerich Kálmán to the American radio audience, in the double role of composer and conductor, in a program of his own music."
This is the opening of *Kálmán Conducts Kálmán*, a delightful recording of a complete radio broadcast from May 5, 1940 released by the California-based Operetta Archives. The recording provides an excellent introduction to Emmerich Kálmán and his music. It includes a sampling of his songs and instrumental works each with introductory remarks by the announcer and concludes with a five minute interview with the composer.
Emmerich Kálmán, born in Hungary in 1882, began a long and productive career as an operetta composer with The Happy Hussars (Ein Herbstman ver), the earliest version of which was produced in 1908. He settled in Vienna, where he produced a series of works that brought him worldwide acclaim, including Sari (Der Zigeunerprimás, 1912), Miss Springtime (Zsuzsi kisasszony, 1915), The Riviera Girl (Die Csárdásf rstin, 1915), The Yankee Princess (Die Bajadere, 1921) and Countess Maritza (Gr fin Mariza, 1924). The spread of Nazism impelled Kálmán to move to Paris in 1939, then to America. He became an American citizen in 1942 but finally settled in Paris, where he died in 1953.
Kálmán conducts Kálmán* provides the listener with the invaluable opportunity to hear Kálmán´s own interpretations of his works. That fact, and the window that this recording provides on the America of 1940, a far more civilized and benevolent time, make the disc well worth listening to, even despite the small amounts of static which are unavoidable on recordings from the period.
The songs in this broadcast, sung in English, contain some of Kálmán´s most expressive melodies. They include "Dear Eyes that Haunt Me" from The Circus Princess, sung beautifully by tenor Felix Night, and "Why Is It All A Dream?," a song written expressly for soprano Gitta Alpár, which receives its world-premiere in this concert.
Among the instrumental works, the overture to Miss Springtime, and the intermezzo from The Yankee Princess are particularly enjoyable. The intermezzo has a forceful opening, of a stirring, almost Russian Romantic character, but "the oriental dance rhythms that begin the intermezzo eventually subside, revealing in orchestral form one of Kálmán´s most luscious melodies, ´Rosen aus Djeipur.´[´Roses from the Ganges´]"
Kálmán´s operetta Countess Maritza, the most popular of his works in America, is particularly memorable and emotionally powerful. This operetta is worth owning in complete form.
A good rendition can be found on the Gala label´s *Graefin Mariza*. The inexpensive two-disc set is a re-release of a recording from 1952. It includes the operetta in the original German complete with spoken dialogue as well as seven bonus tracks -- selections from Jaques Offenbach´s operetta Helena.
This performance, completed in the twilight of the age of operetta, reflects a mode of performing that is largely gone today. The performances are romantic and expressive without being affected, straightforward and tasteful without being restrained or inhibited.
Countess Maritza is based on the story of Count Tassilo who, under the burden of his late father´s debts, has sold his possessions and become an estate manager at a remote country mansion in Hungary owned by Countess Maritza. When the Countess arrives and for the first time meets her new estate manager, a defiant but playful relation between the two begins.
The Countess is planning a celebration of her engagement to Baron Zupan, but has made it clear that her fiance will not attend the party, because he is detained on family business. In fact, he does not exist; she fabricated the engagement, taking the name of her "fiance" from a character in an operetta she had seen -- all to ward off boring suitors.
A gypsy fortune-teller prophecies that the Countess will fall in love with a man of noble descent. The Countess is determined to avoid such a fate, so she sequesters herself at home -- which in fact means that she will be in the company of none other than that aristocrat-in-hiding, her estate manager, Tassilo. Their relationship develops into a tender romance.
Later, by complicated means, the Countess comes to suspect that Tassilo is deceiving her, and that he is out for nothing more than a financially rewarding marriage. In a dramatic finale, she confronts him, pushing money on him and demanding that he never again speak to her of love. He takes the money and throws it to the gypsy orchestra to demonstrate his indifference to her wealth, and leaves. The resolution of this conflict comes only in the final moments of the operetta.
Countess Maritza is known for its arias for Tassilo, the tenor. One of these arias, "Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies" ("Komm, Zigany"), illustrates Kalman´s compositional mastery particularly well. The song begins with Tassilo yearning for better times and dreaming of what it would be like to wander with the gypsies. In accord with this subject matter, the music evokes a brooding melancholy. It is in a minor key and gives a prominent place to certain (resolving) discords; it proceeds at a moderate tempo with a very uniform rhythm, and is moderately intense.
This passage prepares the listener for the refrain, where Tassilo sings to the gypsies, urging them to play and dance and enjoy life. Reaching this section, the listener experiences a grand change of emotion. He hears music of greater intensity, of more varied rhythm, in a new tempo and in a major key. Here, the music evokes a unique composite of rapture and lighthearted joy.
The contrast between the two sections heightens the effect of each, yet both sections contain related melodic and harmonic patterns which unify the song. So in reaching the refrain, the listener experiences a sense of freshness, of something new being revealed, together with a sense that the new music flows naturally and inevitably out of what came before.
This song "instantly became a pop standard and has remained, for almost three-quarters of a century, Kálmán´s most recognizable tune."
Tenor Karl Terkal sings the role of Tassilo on Gala´s recording. He has a warm voice and his interpretations avoid the kind of clowning (such as yelp-singing) one hears on many recordings, in favor of directness and sincerity.
One musicologist notes some of the elements of Kálmán´s distinctive style:
"Kálmán´s most successful and typical works are those in which the Viennese waltz is mixed with the Hungarian popular style. His major international operetta successes all had Hungarian settings, while other works had sub-plots with opportunities for music in the Hungarian manner. Even in his last work, set on a ranch in Arizona, the heroine is a Hungarian. Thus he was able to add to his fund of melody an almost obsessive taste for Hungarian popular rhythms, set off by a penchant for opulent orchestra colouring and instrumental counterpoint." (The New Grove Dictionary of Opera)
This is eminently true of Countess Maritza.
The song "In the Days Gone By" for Tassilo is an example of a Viennese waltz, albeit with a new romantic melodic lyricism. As for the Hungarian elements, Kálmán employs certain inflections of the minor scale, and gives prominence to relatively unusual melodic intervals, giving the music a certain melodic and harmonic "spice." The Hungarian elements are even more salient in the rhythm. Syncopation and unexpected accents produce a sense of liveliness and vitality. Frequent changes of tempo -- especially getting faster and faster -- keep the listener on his (mental) toes. Percussion instruments are used to give emphasis or color at certain moments: the sound of a ringing triangle, a tambourine lightly tapped on offbeats, or the use of rapid xylophone playing to reinforce the melody (as during the instrumental dance section of the upbeat song "The One I´m Looking For").
In the finale of act one, when Countess Maritza hears the gypsy´s prediction that she is fated to marry an aristocrat, she begins a storm of defiance against the idea and the Hungarian musical style is in full force. "Here, I´ll laugh at fate´s decree..." she sings ecstatically, to a vigorous orchestral accompaniment. A rapid, steady tempo gives momentum to the music, but unpredictable accents make it more violent. The chorus sings in slower notes as Maritza laughs in rapid scales rising to higher and higher notes. Climax builds on climax before the music shifts us away from this wild gaiety, into the next segment of the finale.
This passage is also noteworthy from the aspect of performance. In many recordings at this spot the soprano is audible only on the high notes, not on the "laughing" scales. Because the scales are so fast and are sung by only one person, their sound can be overwhelmed by that of the chorus and orchestra. But in this recording, soprano Sena Jurinac´s light, clear voice makes her part distinctly audible, and the effect of the counterpoint between her and the chorus is preserved. It is a testament not only to Jurinac´s skill as a singer, but also to conductor Wilhelm Stephan´s judgment and to the fine engineering of the recording.
Some operettas consist predominantly of formulaic music that evokes a sort of childishly simple cheerfulness. Not so with Kálmán. He blends the "spice" of Hungarian popular music with the romantic lyricism and elegance of the Viennese waltz. He uses these and other stylistic elements, with a masterful compositional technique, to bring the listener from brooding melancholy to rapture within the span of a song, or to heights of wild, defiant gaiety in a finale. Kálmán´s distinction in the operetta genre is specifically the richness of his musical palette, and his command of an adult´s full depth and range of emotion.
For M. Zachary Johnson´s music recommendations, visit:
http://www.tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=995
"From Vienna to New York comes an ambassador an ambassador who makes music, not politics, his business. His name is Emmerich Kálmán. Together with Franz Lehár and Oscar Straus, he stands in the front rank of the composers of continental musical comedy.... Tonight the National Broadcasting Company is privileged to be able to introduce Emmerich Kálmán to the American radio audience, in the double role of composer and conductor, in a program of his own music."
This is the opening of *Kálmán Conducts Kálmán*, a delightful recording of a complete radio broadcast from May 5, 1940 released by the California-based Operetta Archives. The recording provides an excellent introduction to Emmerich Kálmán and his music. It includes a sampling of his songs and instrumental works each with introductory remarks by the announcer and concludes with a five minute interview with the composer.
Emmerich Kálmán, born in Hungary in 1882, began a long and productive career as an operetta composer with The Happy Hussars (Ein Herbstman ver), the earliest version of which was produced in 1908. He settled in Vienna, where he produced a series of works that brought him worldwide acclaim, including Sari (Der Zigeunerprimás, 1912), Miss Springtime (Zsuzsi kisasszony, 1915), The Riviera Girl (Die Csárdásf rstin, 1915), The Yankee Princess (Die Bajadere, 1921) and Countess Maritza (Gr fin Mariza, 1924). The spread of Nazism impelled Kálmán to move to Paris in 1939, then to America. He became an American citizen in 1942 but finally settled in Paris, where he died in 1953.
Kálmán conducts Kálmán* provides the listener with the invaluable opportunity to hear Kálmán´s own interpretations of his works. That fact, and the window that this recording provides on the America of 1940, a far more civilized and benevolent time, make the disc well worth listening to, even despite the small amounts of static which are unavoidable on recordings from the period.
The songs in this broadcast, sung in English, contain some of Kálmán´s most expressive melodies. They include "Dear Eyes that Haunt Me" from The Circus Princess, sung beautifully by tenor Felix Night, and "Why Is It All A Dream?," a song written expressly for soprano Gitta Alpár, which receives its world-premiere in this concert.
Among the instrumental works, the overture to Miss Springtime, and the intermezzo from The Yankee Princess are particularly enjoyable. The intermezzo has a forceful opening, of a stirring, almost Russian Romantic character, but "the oriental dance rhythms that begin the intermezzo eventually subside, revealing in orchestral form one of Kálmán´s most luscious melodies, ´Rosen aus Djeipur.´[´Roses from the Ganges´]"
Kálmán´s operetta Countess Maritza, the most popular of his works in America, is particularly memorable and emotionally powerful. This operetta is worth owning in complete form.
A good rendition can be found on the Gala label´s *Graefin Mariza*. The inexpensive two-disc set is a re-release of a recording from 1952. It includes the operetta in the original German complete with spoken dialogue as well as seven bonus tracks -- selections from Jaques Offenbach´s operetta Helena.
This performance, completed in the twilight of the age of operetta, reflects a mode of performing that is largely gone today. The performances are romantic and expressive without being affected, straightforward and tasteful without being restrained or inhibited.
Countess Maritza is based on the story of Count Tassilo who, under the burden of his late father´s debts, has sold his possessions and become an estate manager at a remote country mansion in Hungary owned by Countess Maritza. When the Countess arrives and for the first time meets her new estate manager, a defiant but playful relation between the two begins.
The Countess is planning a celebration of her engagement to Baron Zupan, but has made it clear that her fiance will not attend the party, because he is detained on family business. In fact, he does not exist; she fabricated the engagement, taking the name of her "fiance" from a character in an operetta she had seen -- all to ward off boring suitors.
A gypsy fortune-teller prophecies that the Countess will fall in love with a man of noble descent. The Countess is determined to avoid such a fate, so she sequesters herself at home -- which in fact means that she will be in the company of none other than that aristocrat-in-hiding, her estate manager, Tassilo. Their relationship develops into a tender romance.
Later, by complicated means, the Countess comes to suspect that Tassilo is deceiving her, and that he is out for nothing more than a financially rewarding marriage. In a dramatic finale, she confronts him, pushing money on him and demanding that he never again speak to her of love. He takes the money and throws it to the gypsy orchestra to demonstrate his indifference to her wealth, and leaves. The resolution of this conflict comes only in the final moments of the operetta.
Countess Maritza is known for its arias for Tassilo, the tenor. One of these arias, "Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies" ("Komm, Zigany"), illustrates Kalman´s compositional mastery particularly well. The song begins with Tassilo yearning for better times and dreaming of what it would be like to wander with the gypsies. In accord with this subject matter, the music evokes a brooding melancholy. It is in a minor key and gives a prominent place to certain (resolving) discords; it proceeds at a moderate tempo with a very uniform rhythm, and is moderately intense.
This passage prepares the listener for the refrain, where Tassilo sings to the gypsies, urging them to play and dance and enjoy life. Reaching this section, the listener experiences a grand change of emotion. He hears music of greater intensity, of more varied rhythm, in a new tempo and in a major key. Here, the music evokes a unique composite of rapture and lighthearted joy.
The contrast between the two sections heightens the effect of each, yet both sections contain related melodic and harmonic patterns which unify the song. So in reaching the refrain, the listener experiences a sense of freshness, of something new being revealed, together with a sense that the new music flows naturally and inevitably out of what came before.
This song "instantly became a pop standard and has remained, for almost three-quarters of a century, Kálmán´s most recognizable tune."
Tenor Karl Terkal sings the role of Tassilo on Gala´s recording. He has a warm voice and his interpretations avoid the kind of clowning (such as yelp-singing) one hears on many recordings, in favor of directness and sincerity.
One musicologist notes some of the elements of Kálmán´s distinctive style:
"Kálmán´s most successful and typical works are those in which the Viennese waltz is mixed with the Hungarian popular style. His major international operetta successes all had Hungarian settings, while other works had sub-plots with opportunities for music in the Hungarian manner. Even in his last work, set on a ranch in Arizona, the heroine is a Hungarian. Thus he was able to add to his fund of melody an almost obsessive taste for Hungarian popular rhythms, set off by a penchant for opulent orchestra colouring and instrumental counterpoint." (The New Grove Dictionary of Opera)
This is eminently true of Countess Maritza.
The song "In the Days Gone By" for Tassilo is an example of a Viennese waltz, albeit with a new romantic melodic lyricism. As for the Hungarian elements, Kálmán employs certain inflections of the minor scale, and gives prominence to relatively unusual melodic intervals, giving the music a certain melodic and harmonic "spice." The Hungarian elements are even more salient in the rhythm. Syncopation and unexpected accents produce a sense of liveliness and vitality. Frequent changes of tempo -- especially getting faster and faster -- keep the listener on his (mental) toes. Percussion instruments are used to give emphasis or color at certain moments: the sound of a ringing triangle, a tambourine lightly tapped on offbeats, or the use of rapid xylophone playing to reinforce the melody (as during the instrumental dance section of the upbeat song "The One I´m Looking For").
In the finale of act one, when Countess Maritza hears the gypsy´s prediction that she is fated to marry an aristocrat, she begins a storm of defiance against the idea and the Hungarian musical style is in full force. "Here, I´ll laugh at fate´s decree..." she sings ecstatically, to a vigorous orchestral accompaniment. A rapid, steady tempo gives momentum to the music, but unpredictable accents make it more violent. The chorus sings in slower notes as Maritza laughs in rapid scales rising to higher and higher notes. Climax builds on climax before the music shifts us away from this wild gaiety, into the next segment of the finale.
This passage is also noteworthy from the aspect of performance. In many recordings at this spot the soprano is audible only on the high notes, not on the "laughing" scales. Because the scales are so fast and are sung by only one person, their sound can be overwhelmed by that of the chorus and orchestra. But in this recording, soprano Sena Jurinac´s light, clear voice makes her part distinctly audible, and the effect of the counterpoint between her and the chorus is preserved. It is a testament not only to Jurinac´s skill as a singer, but also to conductor Wilhelm Stephan´s judgment and to the fine engineering of the recording.
Some operettas consist predominantly of formulaic music that evokes a sort of childishly simple cheerfulness. Not so with Kálmán. He blends the "spice" of Hungarian popular music with the romantic lyricism and elegance of the Viennese waltz. He uses these and other stylistic elements, with a masterful compositional technique, to bring the listener from brooding melancholy to rapture within the span of a song, or to heights of wild, defiant gaiety in a finale. Kálmán´s distinction in the operetta genre is specifically the richness of his musical palette, and his command of an adult´s full depth and range of emotion.
For M. Zachary Johnson´s music recommendations, visit:
http://www.tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=995
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