Martha is a romantic comic opera in four acts by Friedrich von Flotow set to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese and based on a story by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.
Flotow had composed the first act of a ballet, Harriette, ou la servante de Greenwiche, derived from a text by Saint-Georges, for the ballerina Adèle Dumilâtre. This was first performed by the Paris Opera Ballet at the Salle Le Peletier on 21 February 1844. The time available for the composition was short, so the second and third acts were assigned, respectively, to Friedrich Burgmüller and Édouard Deldevez. The opera Martha was an adaptation of this ballet. The first performance of Martha took place at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna on November 12th 1847.
The popularity of Martha received a fresh boost in 1906 when it was staged at the New York Metropolitan Opera in a production that featured the great tenor Enrico Caruso, singing in Italian. Caruso would perform the role of Lyonel many times during subsequent seasons and record extracts from the Italian version of the opera.
Cast:
Lady Harriet Durham (Martha) - Anneliese Rothenberger
Nancy - Brigitte Fassbaender
Lyonel - Nicolai Gedda
Plumkett - Hermann Prey
Robert Heger - conductor
EMI - 1969.
Cast:
Lady Harriet Durham (Martha) - Anneliese Rothenberger
Nancy - Brigitte Fassbaender
Lyonel - Nicolai Gedda
Plumkett - Hermann Prey
Robert Heger - conductor
EMI - 1969