Die Lustige Witwe / The Merry Widow Edition Marking 75th Anniversary the Operaby Franz Lehar
In German and English in parallel. 1980 limited edition (500 copies) Glocken Verlag Limited (London), 8 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches tall brown moire cloth hardcover in publisher's brown cloth slipcase, gilt design and lettering to front cover and spine, golden ribbon marker sewn in, copiously illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs and artwork, xvii, 139 pp. Very slight soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers. Slight foxing to page edges. Erased pencil notations to top of front free-endpaper. Slight marginal soiling to a few of the front prefatory pages, up through the title page. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked.
Presentation edition published to mark the 75th anniversary of the world premiere on December 30, 1905 of The Merry Widow, (German: Die lustige Witwe), an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehar (1870-1948). In addition to the vocal score, this special edition includes the story, cast and contents in German and English, with coverage of the productions of the operetta by the English National Opera London and the Deutche Oper Berlin (Season 1979/80).
The librettists of The Merry Widow, Viktor Leon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, L'attache d'ambassade (The Embassy Attache) by Henri Meilhac. The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived and recorded. Film and other adaptations have also been made.