Franz Lehár's Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) has, since its premier in Vienna in 1905, remained one of the most popular, entertaining repertoire operetta mainstays to have graced the opera stages of the world. To a wealth of fine past performances available for listening or viewing may be added this live staging recorded during the 2005 Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival with a cast headed by Harald Serafin, Mathias Hausmann, Margarita De Arellano and Elisabeth Starzinger, Rudolf Bibl conducting.