Written by a frenchified German, set in Queen Anne's England, sung by the stars of yesteryear in Italian, and enlisting an old Irish air originally called The Groves of Blarney as its principal melody, the opera has exercised an international appeal, and its charm has not yet faded and gone like the last rose of summer's companions.
If regarded as a German opera, it slips into the category of musical Biedermeier, a cosy, gemutlich family entertainment with pretty scenery and nothing to think about. But that doesn't quite account for its survival. There is a lightness that is French rather than German, as perhaps befits a friend of Gounod and Offenbach. The melodic freshness has an English connection too, for to our ears it frequently recalls Sullivan's share in the Savoy operas. Nor can its Italian past be entirely forgotten: to most of us Lionel's aria remains ''M'appari tutt' amor'', which is certainly a great deal more pleasant to sing than ''Ach, so fromm, ach, so mild''.
When the LP version of this 1977 recording reached us in 1982, the reviewer had to scurry to and fro making comparisons with another version, under the veteran conductor Robert Heger (Electrola—nla). The verdict was that ''both recordings are really stopgaps, and the gap is not big enough to be stopped twice over''. The earlier cast had the advantage of Brigitte Fassbaender and Hermann Prey as a livelier, more happily cast second pair of lovers, and Nicolai Gedda brought more personality to the role of Lionel than does Siegfried Jerusalem. On CD the set has no competitor and the reviewer can report that heard straight through and on its own merits it warmed a chilly winter's evening very agreeably. Because of the famous aria it tends to be thought of as a tenor's opera (its single performance at Covent Garden this century was given at the request of Beniamino Gigli), but on this recording if there is a 'star' it's the soprano. Lucia Popp in deliciously cool clear voice sings with winning accomplishment: 'Lady' Harriet alias Martha is not one of opera's more endearing heroines but every appearance is welcome here. Though Jerusalem draws a firm melodic line and does everything intelligently, he makes no very memorable impression. But essentially it is an ensemble opera: the principals spend quite a lot of time singing quartets like members of a glee club, and much depends on the willingness of everybody, including the chorus, to make it 'go'. They succeed in that, and the well-spaced recorded sound passes the test of CD transfer very creditably.'