The lighter half of the evening
Operetta: Kálmán, Lehár, Fledermaus
What operetta is and which numbers the Hofburg programme draws on: Strauss's Die Fledermaus, Kálmán's Csárdás Princess and Lehár's Land of Smiles.
Reserve your seats in the Hofburg ↗Quick answer
Operetta is a lighter cousin of opera, mixing spoken dialogue, songs and dance. The Hofburg programme draws on Strauss's Die Fledermaus of 1874, Kálmán's The Csárdás Princess of 1915 and Lehár's The Land of Smiles, which opened in its revised form in 1929.
What operetta is
Operetta is a theatre form that mixes spoken dialogue, songs and dance, and it is lighter than opera in its music, its orchestra size and its length. It became recognised as a genre in Paris around 1850. After 1870 its centre moved to Vienna, where Johann Strauss II became the most significant German-language operetta composer. For a visitor, the useful idea is that operetta is built from tunes: waltzes, marches and big solo songs that stand alone, which is why a concert can lift them out of the story.
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus, The Bat, was first staged on 5 April 1874 at the Theater an der Wien, with a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée. In its second act a masked ball takes place at Prince Orlofsky's villa, where Eisenstein appears as a marquis, Rosalinde as a Hungarian countess, and the night ends at six in the morning. It has become the most performed operetta in the world. The programme sheet opens with its overture, and it names the duet Brüderlein und Schwesterlein.
Wiener Blut
Wiener Blut, Viennese Blood, began as a waltz by Johann Strauss II in 1873. The operetta of the same name was put together from his music and some of Josef's by Adolf Müller Jr., and it opened on 26 October 1899 at the Carltheater, a few months after Strauss died. It is set at the Congress of Vienna. The first run closed after about thirty performances, and a slightly changed version at the Theater an der Wien in 1905 won the audience it had missed. The programme names Wiener Blut as a duet.
Kálmán and The Csárdás Princess
Emmerich Kálmán was born in 1882 in Siófok, by Lake Balaton, and moved to Vienna after his early success with Tatárjárás in Budapest in 1908. The Csárdás Princess opened on 17 November 1915 at the Johann Strauss Theater in Vienna, with a libretto by Leo Stein and Béla Jenbach. Its heroine, Sylva Varescu, is a cabaret performer from Budapest. Kálmán and Lehár led what is often called the Silver Age of Viennese operetta. He died in Paris on 30 October 1953. The programme names Heia, heia in den Bergen from the work.
Lehár and the tenor
Franz Lehár was born on 30 April 1870 in Komárom, now Komárno in Slovakia, and died on 24 October 1948 in Bad Ischl. Between 1925 and 1934 he wrote six operettas for the tenor Richard Tauber. The Land of Smiles grew from an earlier version, Die gelbe Jacke, which opened at the Theater an der Wien on 9 February 1923; the revised version opened on 10 October 1929 at the Metropol-Theater in Berlin. Its hit song for Tauber, Dein ist mein ganzes Herz, is the one the programme names.
Golden and Silver Age
Historians divide Viennese operetta into a Golden Age and a Silver Age. Strauss and Franz von Suppé are named among the most notable composers of the Golden Age. Lehár is widely considered the leading operetta composer of the 20th century, and he and Kálmán led the Silver Age, with Lehár's The Merry Widow of 1905 remaining in the repertory. The Hofburg programme reaches across both: Strauss's overture and waltzes from the earlier age, and Kálmán's and Lehár's songs from the later one.
Who this isn't for
If you want a whole operetta with its plot, costumes and dialogue, this is not it. You hear single operetta numbers, in German, without the story that gives them their jokes. If you dislike a sentimental tenor song, a Hungarian-flavoured number and a comic duet in one evening, the programme will feel too mixed. And if you want a serious opera night, the playful tone of the evening may not suit.
Frequently asked questions
What is an operetta?
A theatre form mixing spoken dialogue, songs and dance, lighter than opera in its music, orchestra and length.
When was Die Fledermaus first staged?
On 5 April 1874 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
Who wrote The Csárdás Princess?
Emmerich Kálmán. It opened on 17 November 1915 at the Johann Strauss Theater in Vienna.
Who was Richard Tauber?
A tenor for whom Franz Lehár wrote several operettas. His signature song in The Land of Smiles is Dein ist mein ganzes Herz.
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