Lehar - Paganini (Wolfgang Ebert, Antonio Theba, Teresa Stratas) [2012 / 1973]

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Lehar - Paganini (Wolfgang Ebert, Antonio Theba, Teresa Stratas) [2012 / 1973]

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Lehar retired professionally after making money on more more than thirty successful comic operettas. He then toured Europe at his own expense producing experimental Musicals for superstar tenor Richard Tauber. PAGANINI, the first in this set, premiered in Vienna in 1925, is iconic as an early successful Musical. The scene is set near Tuscany around 1805. Paganini, recently out of jail, courts and wins the sister of Emperor Napoleon, who hires him as court musician in Lucca. Napoleon wishes him arrested. Paganini then courts the mistress of the Princess' husband, who is also courted by the Princess' Administrative Court Manager. When the Princess realizes Paganini has been unfaithful, she has him arrested. He escapes to a smuggler's den near the border at which she arrives in disguise to wish him farewell. He crosses the border out of Napoleon's jurisdiction to pursue his violin and his women. Filmed in Germany in 1973, it employs the older cinematic technique of singers recording the sound track, then dubbing the music while being panned in long shots on location without a live audience. What is valuable to operetta and Musical buffs alike is a rare chance to experience this masterpiece with English subtitles, and a rare chance to see such superstars of the past not easily available on DVD as Jopi Heesters and Dagmar Koller.
By L. Wernicki

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Lehar - Paganini (Wolfgang Ebert, Antonio Theba, Teresa Stratas) [2012 / 1973]

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