Premiered in January 1934, Giuditta, Lehár's last operetta, is generally viewed as his finest, greater even than his most popular, The Merry Widow (1905). Lehár himself was partial to Giuditta, not least because he designed the work from the beginning on a grand scale, attempting to bridge the worlds of opera and operetta. In many respects, he succeeded, but Giuditta ends up not quite as either, landing in a limbo suspended between the two that has partially sabotaged its acceptance with both performers and the public. The story concerns the beautiful but married Giuditta who takes up with the attractive army captain Octavio in North Africa, only to endure a breakup in their relationship when he is transferred and refuses to desert. Giuditta then becomes a dancer in a nightclub and Octavio does finally desert, but when a reconciliation years later fails, the story ends sadly, though not quite tragically. With slightly darker music and a more grimly powerful ending, the work might have become a full-fledged opera in spite of its plentiful dialogue. Like Lehár's best efforts, Giuditta contains many fine numbers. In Scene 1, Octavio's "Freunde, das Leben, Ist Lebenswert!" (Comrades, this life is the life for me), is dramatic and exotic, divulging supposed African ethnic elements that are really Lehár's own ersatz creations. The Scene 2 duet between Giuditta and Octavio, "Schön Wie Die Blaue Sommernacht" (Blue as the summer sky above), also displays an exotic character and conveys a slick, Carmen-like sensuality in its music. Another popular number in Giuditta is "Du Bist Meine Sonne" (You are my sun), Scene 3, No. 11, sung passionately though sweetly by a yearning Octavio. Giuditta's Scene 4 "Meine Lippen, Sie Kussen So Heiss" (On my lips every kiss is like wine), is alluring, if light, again more slick than emotional, but quite effective within the context of the story. Many of the numbers in the work, as one might gather, are love songs or songs of hope for a better life. A complete performance of Giuditta will generally last a bit over one-and-a-half hours, though with some of the dialogue trimmed (but including all the music), Giuditta can be accommodated on a single 80-minute CD.

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