Beer Joseph: Der Prinz von Schiras (2CD)

After hearing just the first few numbers of this operetta, it is easy to believe reports that its composer Joseph Beer (1908-1987) was a musical prodigy. Charleston and tango, oriental melismas and quickstep – his effervescent mind was so full of invention that the amazed jurors at the Vienna Conservatory exempted him from the first four years of study. When the Zurich Opera House premiered Beer's Prinz von Schiras on 31 March 1934 and its tremendous success was later repeated at the Theater an der Wien, nothing should have stood in the way of a great career. But the men in brown shirts were opposed to him, and so the comeback of this exquisite high society love story had to wait almost 90 years. This revival is so convincing, of course, that we need not worry about the future of the seductive American Violet – she is on her way to great heights with her prince Nadir.