Operetta time, and Amal Choucri Catta is ready Sulle ali dell'operetta; I cameristi Triestini; cond Fabio Nossal, arias, duets and quartets from operettas by Franz Lehar and Ralph Benatzky. Al- Gumhouriya Theatre, 20 June, 9pm It was all really Hanna's fault, beginning when she decided to marry rich old banker Glawari. Beautiful young Hanna is in love with charming Danilo who had courted her while they were happy teenagers in Pontevedro, a state created by the French author Henri Meilhac, creator of "L'attaché d'ambassade", a Parisian vaudeville. At a later date the comedy was adopted by Hungarian composer Franz Lehar for his celebrated operetta in three acts The Merry Widow, with a libretto by Victor Leon and Leo Stein, which premiered in Vienna in 1905. It was an immediate success and turned out to be Lehar's most popular operetta, adapted for the screen in the early 1940ss with Nelson Eddy in the role of Anilo and Jeannette MacDonald cast as Hanna. In the early 50s The Merry Widow was translated into Arabic and performed at the Cairo Opera House with soprano Ratiba El-Hefny as Hanna: she appeared in the same role in June 1994 when the Widow was produced once again in Arabic at the Main Hall of the then new Cairo Opera House, before disappearing into oblivion. Among local audiences Lehar is known almost exclusively for his most popular work though he produced 40 operettas and operas and an infinite number of songs, marches, dances and violin concertos. A violinist, born in Hungary in 1870, he initially followed in the footsteps of his father before successfully turning to composition, becoming as famous as Johann Strauss Junior. Among his better-known works are Land of Smiles, The Count of Luxembourg, The Zarewitsch and a full-scale opera, Giuditta. Lehar died in Austria in 1948, honoured and feted. His villa in Bad Ischl has been turned into a museum and an annual Lehar Festival is held in the spa town. The Merry Widow continues to pack in audiences around the world -- a charming operetta with complicated plot and many fascinating melodies, it is a perennial favourite. I cameristi Triestini, at the Gumhouriya Theatre on 20 June, presented the operetta's best known arias, duets and quartets, marvelously performed by sopranos Gisella Sanvitale and Elena Pontini, and tenors Paolo Venier and Andrea Binetti, under the baton of Fabio Nossal. The performance was supplemented by a narrator who relates the story of the extravagant lady Hanna of Pontevedro. A fluent performance, with the songs gliding in and out of the narration, and the singers lending mirth and vivacity to the proceedings. "So," says the story-teller, "after the death of her super-rich banker husband Hanna decides to travel to Paris." Her fame, however, precedes her and she is immediately surrounded by young and old suitors who covet both her charms and her riches. But she has eyes only for Danilo, who will not propose marriage for fear she might think he is wooing her for her money. She has her riches, he his pride, though neither provides much consolation. Danilo, then, spends his evenings at Maxim's, in the company of Do-Do, Clo-Clo, Frou-Frou and others. But Danilo's troubles are hardly over. He has been asked by Baron Mirko Zeta, ambassador of Pontevedro in Paris, to marry Hanna in order to secure her millions for their "impoverished fatherland". Baron Zeta, however, is so taken up by the Glawari millions that he does not notice Camille de Roussillon courting his young wife Valencienne. The two are infatuated with each other, but Valencienne decides to renounce Camille and marry him off to Hanna, who does not want him, nor any other for that matter. Thus develop the entanglements of the operetta. Hanna gives a ravishing party in the garden of her villa where she sings the beautiful aria Vilja, O Vilja, Du Waldmaegdelein, based on a folk tale concerning a maid of the woods and a huntsman's unrequited love for her. It is a sad tale: maybe Danilo will be touched to the point of declaring his love for Hanna, but he does nothing of the sort. Exasperated, she finally declares she will lose all her money if she ever remarries. That does it: Danilo confesses his love for her while she, in turn, tells him that he will inherit her riches for their homeland. Baron Mirko Zeta is overjoyed and the happy quartet sing and dance a jubilant can-can as the orchestra reaches the closing chords and the audience enthusiastically responds. The Cameristi Triestini, a chamber orchestra of around 20 instrumentalists, have a charming way with operettas: choosing the liveliest and the most prominent arias, combined with a narrator's text, they simplify the plot while performers sing and dance on stage. Under Fabio Nossal the orchestra has successfully toured Europe, Asia, the US and Latin America. Their performance at the Gumhouriya Theatre, within the framework of the Italy-Egypt Year 2004, was particularly welcome. The second part of the concert was dedicated to a lesser-known composer, Ralph Benatzky, a Czech musician born in 1884 who left Vienna in 1938 for the US, settled in Switzerland following World War Two and who died in Zurich in 1957. He was astonishingly prolific, penning 100 operettas, 250 film scores and 5,000 songs. He wrote the title-song and much of the score of his best-known operetta, Im weissen Roessl, at the White Horse Inn. Young and beautiful Josefa Vogelhuber is the proprietor of the inn: widowed three years ago she has already fired five of her employees for falling in love with her. The only one left is Leopoldo, the manager, who is madly in love with his boss but refuses to make any mention of his feelings knowing its deleterious effects on job security. One fine day, however, he decides to declare his love. Bad timing, since it is the same fine day that Josefa is eyeing the lawyer Bellati who, in turn, is in love with the young Ottilia. While Josefa muses over the situation, singing a vibrant Jodler to her customers and guests, the man of her dreams finally arrives -- the astoundingly handsome Sigismund who promptly ignores Josefa, having fallen for the sweet and shy Claretta. Given that this is operetta we should not be surprised at the sudden arrival Kaiser Franz Josef. The monarch has been on a hunting spree and needs somewhere to relax. Quickly realising that Leopoldo loves Josefa and that she loves him, though she will not admit it, he gives the lady a piece of his mind before leaving. Thus Leopoldo's patience is rewarded: he finally marries Josefa and they live happily at the White Horse Inn ever after. The singers gave lovely versions of Im weissen Roessl am Wolfgangsee and Die ganze Welt ist himmelblau -- (the whole world is of a heavenly blue when I look into your eyes). Leopoldo's solo was suitably moving, while Sigismund's Was kann der Sigismund dafuer (Sigismund can't help being as handsome as he is) met with audience approval. By the time the violins echoed the signature tune of the White Horse and the orchestra closed in, tutti fortissimi, the singers were waltzing across the stage and the house was already drowning in repeated bravos.
