JACQUES OFFENBACH (1819-1880): Fantasio.
Catalogue Number: 10Q044
Label: Opera Rara
Reference: ORC 51
Format: CD
Price: $53.98
Description: This opéra comique had the misfortune to be premiered in the Paris of 1872, when Offenbach's brand of operette, his most successful genre in that city, was being pushed out in favor of the confections of Lecocq and its German setting didn't help either right after the humiliations of the Franco-Prussian War. So, even though it got some critical acclaim and was successful in a third version later in Vienna, it sank virtually without trace. This recording is the result of years of searching for all the original manuscript material which resulted in the recreation of that Parisian premiere. A comic opera, not an operetta, Fantasio can be seen as a link between Die Rheinnixen and Les Contes de Hoffmann. Opera Rara is almost completely back to their original extravagant packaging, lacking only the hinged-lid box. 2 CDs. French-English libretto. Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Russell Braun (baritone), Robert Murray (tenor), Brenda Rae (soprano), Opera Rara Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Mark Elder.