Heinrich Marschner often is seen as a bridge between Weber and Wagner. Netherworldly folk mingle with regular folk and drinking songs abound--and on the other hand, Marschner used musical motifs related to specific characters, which Wagner turned into his famous "leitmotifs". Historical placement aside, Der Vampyr is good fun, filled with creepy situations and melodrama, and it's nicely orchestrated to boot. Occasionally the Singspiel tradition calls for music that's far more lighthearted than the situation calls for, but Marschner also offers us some excitingly evil music for Ruthven, the Vampire, and some heartfelt scenes for his confused victims and bystanders.

There is a pretty good recording from Munich in 1974 led by Fritz Reiger on Opera d'Oro (with a good cast, including Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Arleen Auger, with a nicely sneering Roland Hermann as Ruthven) and an import I haven't heard, and there's apparently a new one available on Capriccio that has yet to be released in the U.S. Whatever, this present Urania set (from Vienna in 1951) is totally out of the running: In place of the spoken dialog (in itself no pleasure, but at least authentic) we get a German narrator; there's no booklet with translations (and no libretto); a couple of numbers are cut entirely (40 minutes of the opera are missing); both sopranos are terrible, the tenor Aubry is weak, and the sound is bad. Find the Opera d'Oro (or the import, which I can't vouch for) or wait for the Capriccio. This set does Marschner no favors at all.

--Robert Levine