Frühling


Composer: Lehar, Franz 1870 - 1948

Version: 0

Franz Lehar’s one act Frühling (Springtime - 1922) was his last and most ambitious one-act operetta. Abandoning the usual operetta formula, Frühling alludes to contemporary concerns (like housing shortages), the characters are working-class, and the music ranges over a broad spectrum, from one-step, shimmy and fox-trot to sweeping waltzes, preludes and interludes. The operetta was later revised as Frühlingsmädel (1928). SYNOPSIS: Vienna, early 1920s. Hedwig is a copyist who must type up a libretto and, as she types, she lives out the entire operetta in her head. It is the story of a shy musician named Lorenz, who has fallen in love with a woman whom he has never met. Lorenz rents her attic flat during the day while she is at work, and he has fallen in love with his roomate through the contents of her wardrobe. There is much confusion, owing to a misunderstanding between Lorenz’s friend Ewald and the woman’s co-worker, but everything is resolved happily. The characters of the operetta are imagined as characters in Hedwig’s own life, and she consequently realises that she loves the young composer of the operetta.

Instrumentation
1(dbls Picc).1.2.0. / 0.0.0.0. / Timp / Perc / Harm / Pno / Hp / Str

Publisher
GV


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