The man with the three women
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The man with the three women |
| Original title: | The man with the three women |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Franz Lehár |
| Libretto : | Julius Bauer |
| Premiere: | January 21, 1908 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater an der Wien , Vienna |
| Place and time of the action: | Vienna, Paris and London around 1908 |
| people | |
|
|
The man with the three women is an operetta in 3 acts by the composer Franz Lehár and the librettist Julius Bauer . The premiere took place on January 21, 1908 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna .
action
Hans Zipser, the managing director and tour guide of a travel agency in Vienna, lives in Vienna with his wife Lori. At the same time he has a lover in Paris and London. He often comes to these cities on business, and on these occasions he meets with the respective woman there. In Paris it's Coralie, a former ballet dancer, and in London it's Olivia, a hotel owner. His boss, Baron Huehneberg, is very interested in Zipser's wife Lori. But she rejects him with the information that she is already married. Hühneberg tells Lori about her husband's conditions in Paris and London, but she refuses to believe it. In this situation, Hühneberg has Lori sign a declaration in which she agrees to enter into a love affair with him as soon as he (Hühneberg) has provided evidence of her husband's infidelity. In the meantime, Hans has traveled to Paris again, where he meets with Coralie, who now runs a decency school. Conveniently, Hans set up the travel agency's Paris branch in the immediate vicinity of Coralie's house. Baron Hühneberg and Lori have followed Hans, and Lori has to recognize the truth and admit her husband's infidelity. Nevertheless, she hesitates to keep her promise. Hans travels on to London and meets his lover Olivia in her hotel, where he has also set up the branch of the travel agency. Soon it will be very tight for Hans. Lori, Coralie and Baron von Hühneberg followed him to London. The three women meet and make a scene for Hans. It gets worse for him when he learns of his wife's signed declaration to Huehneberg. He's madly jealous. He of all people is now talking about divorce because of infidelity. After some back and forth, everything turns for the better, in the classic operetta tradition. Hans stays with his wife.
reception
The work was well received by the public. It was played 82 times in four months. Lehár's music was both folk and cabaret. For the first time, he built Chinese music into one of his stage works, albeit to a modest extent. Over the years, however, the popularity of this operetta fell sharply. It gradually disappeared from the repertoire, which was also due to an oversupply of such works, which more or less displaced each other from the repertoire of the theater. Today the work is rarely performed.
Music numbers after the score
No. 1 Introduction: Sir, Sir, I ask very much (Butzi, choir)
No. 2 song: To be a straw widow ... My child comforts you (Lori, Hans, Butzi)
No. 3 Duet: Bees no longer hum ... I love my domesticity (Lori, Hans)
No. 4 song: The women are so fond of it ... Oh, the man is easy to fall (Hans)
No. 5 and 5a scene: Please read ..... I want to avenge myself (Lori, Baron, Wendelin)
No. 6 dance duet: Bad man, listen up (Lori, Hans)
No. 7 Finale I: The Song of the Red Mill (all previous ones)
No. 8 Introduction (to Act 2): One, two, always drill (major)
No. 9 song: roses without number (Coralie)
No. 10 Waltz-Duet: Dear Come (Coralie, Major)
No. 10a Melodrama: Was that another nice story (Coralie, Lori)
No. 11 Terzett: I am a woman of temperament (Lori, Coralie, Hans)
No. 12 Signal Duet: It would be so nice in human life (Lori, Hans)
No. 13 Dance and Melodrama: Oh, roses without a number (Coralie, pensioners)
No. 13a Scene: Come over (pensioners)
No. 14 Finale II: Scene (All previous ones)
No. 14a Intermezzo (orchestra)
No. 15 Couplet: This is how every nation becomes blessed according to its form (Hans)
No. 16 dance duet: I know a lot of women (Coralie, Major)
No. 17 Sextet: My Overly Tender Mind (Lori, Coralie, Olivia, Major, Hans, Baron)
No. 18 Finale III (final song): Now we march to Vienna (all)
Sound carrier
In 1908, sixteen records were recorded by the Deutsche Grammophon-Gesellschaft at the time, on which the original singers, etc. a. Mizzi Günther (Lori), Louise Kartousch (Coralie) and Ludwig Herold (Hans) have sung a selection of pieces from the operetta 'under the personal direction of the composer' (as it says on the labels on the records).
A complete recording of the operetta was made in 1955 under the direction of Max Schönherr . The choir and orchestra of the Wiener Rundfunk sang and played. As soloists u. a. with: Rudolf Christ , Erika Forsell-Feichtinger, Magda Steiner, Ottilie Roscher, Fritz Sperlbauer and Edy Urban. This recording was released in 2010 as a double CD on the Cantus Classics label . As a short overture heard on this recording, the waltz lips are silent and ball sirens from the Merry Widow . There does not seem to be a separate overture for this operetta; at least there is none in the piano reduction. When recording the operetta, Max Schönherr incorporated the two waltzes from The Merry Widow , which also seem appropriate, as a short overture , probably to get the listeners in the mood for the time it was composed.
literature
- Norbert Linke : Franz Lehár , rororo Verlag, p. 52