Lydia Teuscher

From the Semperoper Dresden, 2006 Fairy-tale Opera in three acts by Engelbert Humperdinck based on a libretto by Adelheid Wette

Rosina from *The Barber of Seville* is now Countess Almaviva, his wife. However, he is far from being a paragon of virtue. Among others, he is pursuing his wife’s maid, Susanna—who is to marry Figaro, now in the Count’s service—and his gardener’s daughter, Barbarina. He faces competition from the page Cherubino, who is in love with all women and in particular with the Countess, his godmother. Meanwhile, the elderly Marcellina, aided by Doctor Bartolo and the music master Basilio, seeks to prevent the marriage of Susanna and Figaro, as the latter has promised to marry her. ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ (‘Le nozze di Figaro’, K. 492) is a four-act opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte inspired by Beaumarchais’s comedy, ‘Le Mariage de Figaro’.

Franz Lehár’s “Die Lustige Witwe” is reputed to be one of the most famous operettas in the world. Under the direction of the French Jerome Savary's the “Merry Widow” sparkles. At the first staging of this production at the Opera-Comique in Paris (Octobre, 2005) the singers appeared to be having as much fun as the audience. The Austrian Maestro Manfred Honeck presents his musical view on this operetta.