Patrick Bade
Ladies on Both Sides: The Merry Widow, Madame Butterfly and Lili Marleen
Summary
Patrick Bade discusses the wartime careers of three female musical characters: the Merry Widow, Madame Butterfly, and Lili Marleen. He mentions “The Merry Widow”, its origins, success, and its use during the Nazi era and the significance of the song “Lili Marleen” during the war, its various versions in different languages, and its impact on people across nations.
Patrick Bade
Patrick Bade is a historian, writer, and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was a senior lecturer at Christie’s Education for many years and has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, and V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20th-century paintings and historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945.
Operetta of course is a much lighter form of musical entertainment, but very often, in fact, the borders between the three things are quite blurred.
Yes, actually, yes, but it’s nearly always sung by women. There were versions recorded in the Second World War by men. I don’t know why. That’s a very interesting point to make.
It was very difficult, because in this country, all the royalties were frozen from anybody who was on the other side, and that was really tricky. Even, for instance, a composer like Mischa Spoliansky, who was here as a refugee, found that all his royalties were frozen, ‘cause technically he was still a German.