Gems from The Chocolate Soldier

Victor Light Opera Company

Victor 31780

1920

1) Fighting for love

2) That would be lovely

3) Letter duet

4) Thank the Lord the war is over

5) My hero

Oscar Straus’s 1908 chamber opera is based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Arms and the Man.

Here is a fusion of Viennese operetta and British wit.

Lieutenant Bumerli is a Swiss mercenary assisting the Serbian army in the Serbo-Bulgarian War.

He spontaneously takes refuge in the household of a Bulgarian general.

He sets the hearts of all the women aflutter.

When he is recognized as a deserter, he ruins the general’s daughter Nadina’s upcoming wedding to a soldier.

As it turns out, this is just as well since Bumerli and Nadina were destined for each other.

The first English-language version of The Chocolate Soldier premiered in New York in 1909. It was the hit of the Broadway season.

Its London premiere the following year ran for 500 performances.





Gems from The Chocolate Soldier = Victor Light Opera Company (1920) Oscar Straus Vienna = "My Hero"

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