A careful blend of recitative, arioso and setpiece, ‘Euryanthe’ was Carl Maria vonWeber’s second opera, first performed in1823 (two years after the premiere of DerFreischütz) and based on an early 13thcenturyFrench romance with a libretto byHelmina von Chézy – the eccentric author ofSchubert’s five?act ‘Rosamunde’.The work is largely based on the thencommon opera theme of a husband drivento test his wife’s fidelity. Lysiart, Adolar’ssecret rival, boasts that he can lead thelatter’s betrothed Euryanthe astray – a claimto which each reacts by staking all hispossessions on the outcome. Lysiart appearsto have triumphed when Eglantine, jealouslyin love with Adolar, manages to unlock fromEuryanthe a secret concerning Adolar’s deadsister, who will not find rest until the ringfrom which she drank poison is wet withtears; Adolar, distraught, abandonsEuryanthe and gives up all his possessions.Things take a turn for the better, however,when Eglantine’s betrayal is uncovered bythe king and his hunting party, who stumbleupon an exhausted Euryanthe after she hasjust saved Adolar from a huge serpent.Alleging that Euryanthe has died, the kingguilt?trips Eglantine at the ensuing peasantwedding into confessing her crime,whereupon she is fatally stabbed by anenraged Lysiart. Adolar is crazed with grief,but at this moment Euryanthe enters andthe two are happily reunited.Rarely staged because of its weak libretto,‘Euryanthe’ is nevertheless a groundbreakingwork due to its repeated use ofchromaticism for depicting evil characters –Weber was well ahead of his time in thisrespect, as music history would have to waitanother 40 years before Wagner pursuedthe ‘dissolution of tonality’ on a similar scalein ‘Tristan und Isolde’. This recording, madein 1974, features a stellar cast (Nicolai Geddaand Jessye Norman sing the roles of Adolarand Euryanthe respectively) and is directedby esteemed Polish?born conductor MarekJanowski.