![]() ![]() Scene 3 In the moonlit military encampment, soldiers sing of their nomadic life. However, things become complicated when Giuditta confesses her love for Octavio, who is troubled by news of a possible regiment relocation. Giuditta offers Anita employment, while Pierrino plans to return home to rebuild his trade. Scene 2 Now penniless, Anita and Pierrino seek refuge at Octavio's villa in a North African garrison town. Unable to resist the allure, Giuditta agrees to join him. Infatuated, Octavio implores Giuditta to accompany him on his upcoming voyage. The scene takes a turn when a group of officers, led by the captivating Captain Octavio, arrive and are entranced by Giuditta's beauty and her soul-stirring song. Meanwhile, the skilled local craftsman Manuele works diligently, devoted to his beautiful wife Giuditta. He plans to embark on a journey to North Africa with his girlfriend Anita. Synopsis Scene 1 In the lively Mediterranean town, street singers fill the air with their melodies as the fruit seller Pierrino prepares to bid farewell to his livelihood. Roles Roles, voice types, premiere cast Role In 1970 a German television version was made with tenor Rudolf Schock and soprano Teresa Stratas. It was subsequently also recorded in English by conductor Richard Bonynge, featuring tenor Jerry Hadley. However, the work got a late English-language and American première at the Ohio Light Opera in 1994. Janson also featured in the first French performance, at Toulouse in 1936, opposite Mme Chauny-Lasson, but Giuditta, in spite of a handful of provincial productions, did not play in Paris, nor London, nor New York. It was produced in Budapest shortly after its introduction in Vienna, and the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, staged a production (translated by André Mauprey) the following season with Kate Walter-Lippert and José Janson in the leading roles. Giuditta received little attention overseas. Librettist Fritz Löhner-Beda was taken away to a concentration camp and was murdered in Auschwitz. In 1938, after only a few more performances had been played, came the Anschluss and Tauber left town, as did Novotná. The original production, directed by Hubert Marischka, played 42 times during the season in which it was introduced into the general Vienna opera repertoire. ![]() Despite this initial interest, Giuditta soon faded from the repertoire. It was broadcast live on 120 radio stations across Europe and the United States and ran for 42 performances in its debut season. ![]() The premiere attracted more attention than any of his previous works. The work received its first performance at the Vienna State Opera on 20 January 1934, with Jarmila Novotná and Richard Tauber in the leading roles. Another strong influence, especially for the North African setting, was the 1930 movie Morocco, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper in very similar central roles, she being a singer-dancer, he being a soldier. Perhaps the best known song in the work is the soprano aria " Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß", sung by Giuditta in the fourth scene. Of all his works it is the one which most approaches true opera, the resemblances between the story and that of Bizet's Carmen and its unhappy ending heightening the resonances. Scored for a large orchestra, it was Lehár's last and most ambitious work, written on a larger scale than his previous operettas. Giuditta is an operatic musikalische Komödie (German for musical comedy) in five scenes, with music by Franz Lehár and a German libretto, by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner-Beda.
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