SUNDAY DECEMBER 22ND

 Eibler, Die Hirten bei der Krippe zu Bethlehem  The time of the birth of Jesus draws nigh, and since it's "the reason for the season," a nativity oratorio would surely be in order. Joseph Leopold Eybler (1766-1846) was a student and close friend of Mozart. He was even of physical assistance to the musical genius in his final illness as he worked on his Requiem. Mozart entrusted the task of completing the Requiem to Eybler, and Mozart's widow seconded her husband's dying request. Eybler felt inadequate to the task and turned down the offer. But he was a significant composer in his own right, witness his wonderful Christmas oratorio Die Hirten bei ber Krippe zu Bethlehem ("The Shepherds at the Manger in Bethlehem," 1794). If you like Haydn's "Creation" you'll love Eybler's work. The score of the Christmas oratorio is to be found in the Austrian National Library. Conductor Wolfgang Helbich took it up, preparing it for modern performance with instrumental parts he had to compose himself for the missing ones in the closing choral number. Helbich leads the period instrument ensemble I Febrarmonici and the choir of Bremen Cathedral, the Alsfeld Vocal Ensemble and vocal soloists. The Eybler Christmas oratorio was recorded in 1999 for the German cpo label in coproduction with Radio Bremen. I last broadcast Die Hirten bei der Krippe on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Christmas seasonal music will follow.

 

SUNDAY DECEMBER 29TH 

Lehar, Der Graf von Luxemburg, Kalman, Ein Herbstmanover  Near the end of his career as a composer of Viennese operetta the Hungarian Franz Lehar (1870-1948) wrote a series of sentimental bittersweet works like "The Land of Smiles" (1929), all of which were designed as vehicles for the voice of his star tenor Richard Tauber. Lehar's earlier style of operetta was more comedic and sprightly and produced hits that made him famous. "The Merry Widow" (1905) was his breakthough work in that line. Following Die Lustige Witwe came Der Graf von Luxemburg in 1909. The setting of this operetta is Paris in La Belle Epoque. The story revolves around whether to marry for love or money. Why not marry somebody who's filthy rich and has a noble title! The tunes from "The Count of Luxemburg" were so popular that in 1910 something like an "original cast album" was made on a series of 78rpm acoustic discs. There's a modern musically complete cast recording available since 2017 on two Oehms Classics compact discs. It presents a 2015 staged revival by Frankfurt Opera, and documents a live performance, although Oehms has eliminated the spoken dialogue between the musical numbers. Eun Sun Kim conducts the Museum Orchestra of Frankfurt Opera and the Frankfurt Opera Chorus.