Jacqueline Brumaire - Strauss II: DIE FLEDERMAUS, Czardas (in French), 1965 High D

Описание: THE SONGBIRD: Jacqueline Brumaire (1921 - 2000) sang mostly lyric roles starting with her debut at the Opera-Comique in Paris in 1946 as Mozart's “Figaro” Countess. Other roles there included Mimi, Micaëla, Manon, Antonia, Mireille, Fiordiligi, and the world premiere of "Madame Bovary" by Emmanuel Bondeville in 1951 — a role she repeated at the Paris Opera in 1962. Also at the Paris Opera for Brumaire were performances as Juliette, Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Violetta; at La Scala she was Fiordiligi, Louise, and Concepción, and other cities in Europe heard her as Konstanze, Marschallin, Thais, and Esclarmonde.

THE MUSIC: "Die Fledermaus" is the most performed operetta in the world to the point of essentially coming to define the genre. It premiered in Vienna in 1874, composed by Johann Strauss II to a libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée that was in turn based on a French adaptation of an earlier German play. The work has two principal soprano roles: Rosalinde, a stylish Viennese married woman of means, and her maid Adele. Adele is a clearly coloratura soubrette, but Rosalinde can be sung by a variety of lyric or dramatic voices, as long as there is flexibility and a lightness of touch (it is a sparkling comic operetta after all). In Act Two, each attends a ball in disguise, Adele as an actress and Rosalinde as a mysterious Hungarian countess. This gives rise to Rosalinde's showpiece aria: "Klänge der Heimat,” a rapturous czardas dance piece that she sings to establish her Hungarian bonafides to the party goers.