J. STRAUSS II: Simplicius.(Review)

J. STRAUSS II Simplicius

[] Magnuson, Jankova, Martini, Nikiteanu; Zysset, Haunstein, Volle, Beczala, Widmer; Chorus, Orchestra of the Zurich Opera, Welser-Most. Texts. EMI Classics 5 57009 2

How to write a heavy Viennese operetta? First, take a deadly serious subject such as the Thirty Years' War, as depicted in a 1668 German novel. Have its story of a religious hermit and his simple son besieged by Teutonic warriors and Swedish spies adapted by the future co-author of The Merry Widow, Victor Leon. Then, get Johann Strauss II, fresh from his international triumph with Der Zigeuenerbaron, to compose a thick score that flirts with Wagnerei. Add the celebrated operetta star Alexander Girardi to the mix, and you have Simplicius, a dark operetta that was pretty much forgotten after only thirty performances at the Theater an der Wien in 1887.

But not by Strauss, who lightened the score for a few subsequent performances (and gave Girardi's part to a female), or Leon, who was still fiddling with the libretto as late as 1914. Simplicius then disappeared -- until the recent discovery of Leon's papers led to a reconstruction of the score, sponsored by Zurich Opera. This version (which I saw in Zurich last season) restored items from the Strauss manuscript and was revamped by two modern writers and director David Pountney as a dark, anti-war fable, possibly grimmer than the Grimmelshausen novel that inspired it.

Fortunately, listeners to this enjoyably crisp live recording will not have to endure the busy, dreary mise-en-scene of the stage production, with, among other features, a carousel of hanging corpses. The complicated plot can even be ignored, and attention can zero in where it ...