Lortzing - Zar und Zimmermann
by Rolf Liebermann
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Franz Grundheber, Hans Sotin, Lucia Popp, Peter Haage, Raymond WolanskyDirector: Rolf Liebermann
Brand: Naxos OF America INC
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; German (Published), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 131 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Arthaus Musik
Movie Reviews of Lortzing - Zar und Zimmermann
Movie Review: Beautiful Production of a Marvelous German Comic Opera
Summary: 5 Stars
Albert Lortzing's 'Zar and Zimmermann', written in 1837, is a marvelously constructed comedy of mistaken identities which rises above the usual farcical conventions and provides not only a satisfying plot but some excellent musical characterizations of what otherwise might have been stereotyped roles. In it Czar Peter the Great is working in the shipyards of Saardam (as he actually did in order to learn the shipbuilding trade) under the pseudonym of Peter Michaelov. Another Russian is also working there and also named Peter (Ivanov). Various international intriguers confuse their respective identities and comedy ensues. There are the usual stock characters: a beautiful lass, Marie, daughter of the comic burgermeister Van Bett, the foppish French ambassador, various rough and tumble village characters, a worldly widow and so on. Peter Ivanov is in love with Marie and through various machinations is finally united with her. Through it all Peter the Great acts with great wisdom and humanity, a sort of Hans Sachs of the piece. (In fact, Wagner was much influenced musically and dramatically by Lortzing.)
'Zar und Zimmermann' is not terribly well-known outside German-speaking countries. I was introduced to it thirty-five years ago by a Austrian couple who led me to the classic recording featuring Nicolai Gedda, Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier, Gottlob Frick and Erika Koth, conducted by Robert Heger. It immediately became a favorite.
I am happy to say that this film, made from a Hamburg State Opera mounting in the 1960s during the spell when Rolf Liebermann was making pioneering video opera productions for German television, meets all one's expectations. Musically it is above reproach. The cast is starry, including as it does Hans Sotin as Van Bett, Raymond Wolansky as Peter Michaelov, Lucia Popp as Marie, Horst Wilhelm as the French ambassador, and Ursula Boese as the Widow Browe. Conductor, and a marvelous feel he has for this piece, is the redoubtable Charles Mackerras.
Probably the most familiar number from this comic opera is the French ambassador's 'Lebe wohl, mein fland'risch Mädchen' sung here with tender lyricism by Wilhelm. Van Bett's comic 'Sancta justitia' amuses with its clever interplay of the bass voice and an orchestral bassoon. The sophistication of the Act II finale is, in my opinion, almost at a level of finales by Mozart; high praise indeed.
The production is traditional with colorful Dutch costumes and sets and straightforward stage direction by Joachim Hess. Although recorded in a television studio, it has the feel of a stage production but with more than the usual number of close-ups and moving camera shots. Sound is fine for its time and the video is also excellent especially if one considers that this was an early color TV production.
TT=131 mins. Sound: Mono. Subtitles in English, German, Italian, Spanish. DVD 9 (all regions).
Recommended.
Scott Morrison
Summary of Lortzing - Zar und Zimmermann
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