The
Ohio Light Opera initially took on Carl Zeller's molto obscuro 1891 comic opera Die Vogelhändler (The Birdseller) in 1993 as its then director and founder James Stuart had undertaken a translation of the work into English, as he had other European operas such as Auber's Fra Diavolo and Lecocq's La Fille de Madame Agnot. Although Stuart hoped, naturally, that the newly translated work would be well received, even he had no idea it would be the runaway hit of
Ohio Light Opera's 1993 season; it was such a smash that it had to be repeated the following year. After that, Die Vogelhändler was set aside in favor of other ambitious productions, not to mention the usual round of Gilbert and Sullivan. However, in 2005, Stuart passed away, and this led the now nearly 30-year-old company to reinvestigate the properties developed by its founder; Die Vogelhändler was thus revived in 2007. At that time, this very fine Albany recording was made and appears as part of a long-running series of
Ohio Light Opera performance recordings.
This is clearly one of the finest recordings the
Ohio Light Opera has yet made; there is clearly an effort to assemble a pristine, consistent album out of the performance and there is little to nothing in the way of extraneous sounds, instrumental gaffes, wayward singers, and whatnot. Die Vogelhändler is an irresistibly silly and somewhat irreverent piece, being the tale of a Tyrolean bird seller, Adam (played by Josh Kohl), who doesn't seem to know what's best for him, seeking the hand of the postmaster's daughter from a neighboring town. Adam gets involved in an impossible intrigue involving masquerading nobles and -- well -- the rest can only happen in an operetta. Zeller's music is sparkling and highly attractive, and Stuart's translation is crisp and slightly salacious, keeping the laughs coming; not polite chuckles, but guffaws. This should delight English-speaking fans of operetta to no end.