The three-act romantic operetta Das Land des Lachelns (The Land of Smiles) by Franz Lehar was one of Lehar’s later works, and was wildly popular in Vienna and Germany upon its 1929 debut. The title refers to the supposed Chinese custom of smiling, regardless of what is happening in life, with the leading character, Prince Sou-Chong singing a song early in the show titled “Always smiling” which describes this. This production from the Festival Orchester Morbisch, the Ballett der Seefestspiele Morbisch, and the Schor, Statisterie und Kinderstatisterie der Seefestspiele Morbisch is directed by Peter Edelmann, and was recorded at the 2019 festival.

Although it plays second fiddle on the international stage to the universally popular operetta Die Fledermaus, the glorious musical score of Die Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss II (“The Waltz King”) is no less brilliant than his most famous work. Videoland, purveyor of the finest in filmed middle-European operetta, here offers up a performance of The Gypsy Baron staged during the 2011 Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival. Starring Daniel and Harald Serafin, Evelin Novak, Lucien Krasznec and Wolfgang Bankl, with legendary mezzo Brigitte Fassbaender in charge of production.

This new release features the Morbisch Operetta performing Carl Zeller’s three-act operetta Der Vogelhandler. Der Vogelhandler (The Bird Seller) has a libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held, and tells the story of Adam, a birdseller from the Tyrol and his lover Christel, the village postmistress. It premiered in January 1891 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. In this production, recorded in 2017, Paul Schweinester performs in the title role, with Sieglinde Feldhofer as Christel. Subtitles are available in English, and booklet text, including a synopsis of the work, is available in German and English.

Featuring: Marc Clear; Gideon Singer; Evelyn Schorkhuber; Anton Steingruber; Mirjana Irosch; Wilhelm Gartner; Ingrid Habermann; Christian Baumgartel; Markus Heinrich; Christine Bath; Chor und Statisterie der Seefestspiele Morbisch; Ballett der Seefestspiele Morbisch

Live performance from 1999
Language: German
Subtitles: English
Run Time: 126 minutes

The performance of summer 2015 was again a huge success for the festival!

2010's Mörbisch Lake Festival has brought an operetta classic to the stage. It has an unusually tragic plot for this genre but became a hit, largely though Richard Tauber’s association with the work. Here the Romanian tenor Tiberius Simu sings the role of the Zarewitsch.

The premier of Johann Strauss Jr.’s Weiner Blut came mere months after the composer’s death, and precipitated a tragedy in itself by bankrupting the theater manager, leading to his suicide. In its revised version, it been a steady repertoire presence for nearly a century. Set at the time of the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), the work follows a traditional operetta plot full of mistaken identities. The music, which includes the Blue Danube Waltz, is sublime. This production, from the 2007 Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival, stars Harald Serafin, Rainer Trost and Noëmi Nadelmann.

Starring Rainhard Fendrich, Marco Jentzsch, Klaus-Dieter Lerche.

Mehrzad Montazeri, Friedrich Schwardtmann, Dietrich Siegl, Natalia Ushakova, Peter Uray, Stephan Paryla, Julia Bauer, Markus Heinrich, Hans Wolfgang Pemmer, Volker Wahl, Eva Christina Binder, Gunther W. Lummert, Franz Robert Wagner, Bernd Ander, Matthias Kofler, and Megan Sarah Laehn star in this Lehar operetta with Chor und Ballett der Seefestspiele Marbisch and Statisterie der Seefestspiele Marbisch Festival Orchester Marbisch conducted by Rudolf Bibl.

Starring Linda Plech, Dos Santos.

Viktoria and her Hussar is an operetta based on a work by the Emmerich Foldes. It premiered in Budapest in 1930 and again in Germany later that year. Death lies in story for the Hussar Cavalry Captain Stefan Koltay and his batman Janczi. Both are Russian prisoners of war awaiting execution. Fate intervenes to help them at the very last mometn when Janczi is able to trade his last treasured possession, a violin, in exchange for their freedom. The two succeed in escaping over the border to China, from where they travel on to Japan. Meanwhile, plenty is happening in Tokyo at the house of American Ambassador John Cunlight and his wife, Viktoria, a Hungarian countess. Lies, love and insanity ensues in an thrilling and beautiful show.

Grafin Mariza (Countess Maritza) is an operetta in three acts composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman. The libretto is by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grunwald. It premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on February 28, 1924. This recording is of the famous performance of Grafin Mariza from summer 2018 in Morbisch. The adaptation stars Melanie Holliday as Furstin Bozena Cuddenstein and Vida Mikneviciute in the title role. The Seefestspiele Mörbisch has been attracting visitors to its operettas and musicals since 1957 on the unique stage directly on Lake Neusiedl. The imposing natural backdrop of the Neusiedler See National Park harmoniously blends into the largest open-air opera stage in the world. The Seefestspiele Mörbisch festival provides limitless cultural enjoyment and whisks visitors away into a magical world full of melodies from operettas and musicals, far from the worries of everyday life. From an artistic point of view, the festival is of the highest quality with carefully conceived staged productions with renowned performers and has ensured that it attracts a full crowd each year.

Herald Serafin; Margarita de Arellano; Mathia Hausmann; Elisabeth Starzinger; Marwan Shamiyeh; Daniel Serafin; Alexander Klinger; Ernst Konarek; Bernd Ander; Doris Nitsch; Peter Branoff; Johanna Hohloch; Peter Lidner; Mirjana Irosch; Claudio Hiller.

Together with his fellow-Hungarian Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953) was one of the leading operetta composers of the first quarter of the 20th c. Following the success of his first operetta in 1908, the years 1912-26 brought him a string of four further and farther-reaching operetta successes, including 1915s Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gipsy Princess). This 2002 production from the Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival, celebrated as a reference performance, stars Vera Schoenenberg and Ferdinand von Bothmer as Sylva Varescu and Edwin Ronald respectively.

Franz Lehár (1870-1948), together with Emmerich Kálmán, were the leading operetta composers of the first quarter of the 20th c. First premiered with immediate, international success in1909, Der Graf von Luxemburg’s story of the wealth effects on love and relationships within Parisian and Slavic society, and its most apparent charm, spirit and romanticism, makes for timeless entertainment. This 2006 production from the Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival stars Michael Suttner as The Count and Gesa Hoppe as Angèle Didier.