It must be said that aside from a few rarities from Johann Strauss, and some even rarer pieces from Léhar, Viennese operetta is not well-known in France, while in the German-speaking world it is part of the great repertoire of all the (numerous) local, regional and national stages. Suppé, Millöcker, Ziehrer, Johann Strauss of course, Léhar, Oscar Strauss, and Carl Zeller, are some of the best representatives. Zeller, whose delicious Vogelhändler (The Bird Seller) from 1891, places us firmly in the golden age of the Viennese genre, with its waltzes, polkas, tyroliennes, marches and other wild rhythms. Incidentally, Zeller always remained an "amateur" - he had a job as a senior civil servant - even if, had he lived a little longer, and in light of the immense success of his operettas, he would surely one day have crossed over, like Chabrier in France. It is pretty stunning that Der Vogelhändler never set foot in France, given that it is based on the vaudeville Ce que deviennent les roses by Varien and Biéville (1857), and that it would surely be possible to re-purpose the basis of the original text as an operetta, by transposing it from the Zellerian Tyrol back to the original Batignolles. The recording was made at the famous (and very kitsch) Mörbisch Lakes Festival, which takes place every summer at Mörbisch on Austria's Neusiedl lake, at the Hungarian border. Delicious! © SM/Qobuz