Burlesque & Colorful – Excerpts from “Schwanda” and More …. Jaromír Weinberger’s “one-hit wonder” was definitely his opera Schwanda, the Bagpiper. Two thousand performances of...

Burlesque & Colorful – Excerpts from “Schwanda” and More …. Jaromír Weinberger’s “one-hit wonder” was definitely his opera Schwanda, the Bagpiper. Two thousand performances of this opera were held within four years, and it was translated into seventeen languages. Weinberger’s score is rich in symphonic orchestral numbers that we now have brought together on this album. Already the virtuoso overture reveals between just what musical extremes Weinberger found his unique place. Here Smetana and Max Reger meet, and it was with Reger that Weinberger had studied in 1915 / 16. The dances also convey Bohemian burlesque wit and late-romantic harmonic spice. The two works following the excerpts from Schwanda were composed in 1929, directly after the great boom of Weinberger’s opera success and in its shadow. The six Bohemian Songs and Dances striking subtler musical tones and the overture to the opera The Beloved Voice make us eager to learn what is coming next.