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New Critical Edition of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow Now Available

Apr. 29, 2008

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new critical edition of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow. The new score of the beloved operetta presents the version first used for the 300th performance of the work on January 11, 1907 at Vienna's Theater an der Wien which also featured new sets and costumes. The edition was developed using a variety of sources including the composer's autograph score, Rudolf Bauer's 1907 transcription, an autograph piano score, two printed piano scores by Doblinger and the censored libretto. Lehár's seal of approval for the piano score used in the 300th performance and published along with this critical edition is seen as definitive and binding given that all the reference material used either includes his handwritten notes or is mentioned in his correspondence with the copyist or librettists.

Franz Lehár and his two librettists Victor Léon and Leo Stein signed an agreement with Doblinger music publishers for the operetta Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) on January 2nd, 1905, just three days following its successful world premiere in Vienna. The Imperial-Royal Police, to whom the management of the Theater an der Wien had submitted the libretto for approval, gave its blessing for performance only on the condition that the creators use a censored libretto. Audiences however easily saw through the fictionalized changes and this led to even greater admiration and acclaim for the already well-received work.

A detailed and thorough analysis of how Die Lustige Witwe holds up a mirror to social and political realities is contained in the cultural historian Moritz Csáky's Ideologie der Operette und Wiener Moderne, Ein kultur-historischer Essay (Vienna: Böhlau, 1998). Details regarding the genesis of the work are to be found in Norbert Linke's Franz Lehár (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, rm 50427, 2001), and in Fritz Stein's 50 Jahre Die Lustige Witwe (Vienna-Wiesbaden: Doblinger, 1955). In its centenary year The Merry Widow was also accorded a publication all of its own: Anton Mayer's Franz Lehár - Die Lustige Witwe, Der Ernst der leichten Muse (Vienna: Edition Steinbauer, 2005).

This new critical edition is now available on rental through Schott Music Corporation & EAMDLLC. For rental inquiries, please contact our rental library: rental@eamdllc.com.

For more information on this critical edition and the life and works of Franz Lehár, please visit www.glockenverlag.com.

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