Johann Strauss II (from the Wikimedia Commons Web page, photographer unknown, public domain)
I must confess that, in following yesterday’s account of the four CDs of symphonies by Franz Schubert in the Warner box set of the recordings made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, I was not prepared for “something completely different!” That said, the next composer in the collection is Johann Strauss II, who was about three years old when Schubert died. Thus, the transition from one composer to the next is a far cry from “passing the torch!”
To be fair, only three CDs are allocated to Strauss; and two of them are devoted to his best-known operetta, Die Fledermaus (the bat). (The other CD consists of instrumental selections, some of which will probably be familiar while others will make for engaging journeys of discovery.) I have known much of this music since my childhood, but my most memorable experience was a telecast from Covent Garden with Placido Domingo conducting the Royal Opera Orchestra. Kiri Te Kanawa sang the leading role of Rosalinde with Hermann Prey joining her in the role of Rosalinde’s husband, Eisenstein. This is now available as a DVD on an Amazon.com Web page.
This is a very “visual” operetta; and I have had the good fortune to see several performances, most of which were engaging from beginning to end. As a result, I found that I could not resist “visual memories” while listening to the Harnoncourt recording. That said, Edita Gruberova and Werner Hollweg delivered solid accounts for those roles. However, the “scene stealer” in just about any production is Rosalinde’s maid, Adele. (In a staged performance, we see her before we first see Rosalinde.) Under Harnoncourt’s baton, that coloratura soprano was given a dynamite delivery by Barbara Bonney.
If I read her Wikipedia page correctly, Bonney is no longer performing. However, she has been teaching at a generous number of venues throughout Europe. That said, what I most like about her is the humor that concludes that article:
Bonney opened a boutique clothing store based in Salzburg, LUNA Dress Design, on her 55th birthday in 2011. The brand is currently called "Bonney & Kleid".
The best performance of Fledermaus are the ones in which the performers are not afraid to get raucous. Bonney was one of those performers, and that spirit seems to have carried over to her latest undertaking!
