Giuditta

Giuditta is an operatic musikalische Komödie (German for musical comedy) in five scenes, with music by Franz Lehár and a German libretto, by Paul Knepler [de] and Fritz Löhner-Beda. Scored for a large orchestra, it was Lehár's last and most ambitious work, written on a larger scale than his previous operettas. Of all his works it is the one which most approaches true opera, the resemblances between the story and that of Bizet's Carmen and its unhappy ending heightening the resonances. Perhaps the best known song in the work is the soprano aria "Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß",[1] sung by Giuditta in the fourth scene. Another strong influence, especially for the North African setting, was the 1930 movie Morocco, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper in very similar central roles, she being a singer-dancer, he being a soldier.[2]

  1. ^ Traubner, Richard (1983). Operetta: A Theatrical History. Doubleday. p. 262. ISBN 9780385132329.
  2. ^ "Lehár's Giuditta: A New Recording From Munich with Ulf Schirmer" by Kevin Clarke, Operetta Research Center, 22 June 2016