Die Fledermaus
Text Richard Genée & Karl Haffner
Cast 31.12.2022
Details
Rarely has a work struck Vienna with such immediacy as Johann Strauss’ »Die Fledermaus«. After its premiere in 1874, the piece was frequently performed, in 1894 court opera honours were bestowed upon it, after which it has remained in the repertoire almost continuously. Ever since 1900, it is nearly always performed on New Year's Eve. With a happy lightheartedness, the most famous of all operettas takes a suggestive look at erotic and social disguise beneath the facade of the 19th-century bourgeoisie – dancing and political and social commentaries included. The always prominent »surprise guest« in the second act of the State Opera’s New Year’s Eve performance is also steeped in tradition: this year, it is soprano Asmik Grigorian, who will make her debut in September in the »Madama Butterfly« premiere.
PLOT
ACT 1
The plot revolves around the ball at Prince Orlofsky's house. In Act 1, all the characters are magnetically drawn to the ball, with the exception of Alfred, the tenor in love with Rosalinde, who wanders like a comet along the fringes of the action: The parlor maid Adele is invited there, as she believes, by her sister Ida and has to invent a touching story about a sick aunt to get exit after some back and forth, and her brother, the reindeer Eisenstein, is persuaded by his friend Dr. Falke is persuaded by his friend Dr. Falke to have a good time with him at Orlofsky's instead of going to prison, which he has been sentenced to for insulting the honor of his office - admittedly, Dr. Falke is pursuing his own plan with this, because Eisenstein once disgraced him in front of the whole town when he let him walk home drunk and dressed as a bat through the streets after a masquerade ball. Now Falke sees the opportunity for revenge has come. That is why he invites Eisenstein's wife Rosalinde to the ball. She gets into considerable confusion beforehand when, after Eisenstein's supposed departure to prison, her former admirer Alfred shows up, presses her heart, but is arrested by the prison warden Frank in Eisenstein's place. Frank, satisfied after this official act, goes to the ball at Orlofsky's.
ACT 2
At Prince Orlofsky's ball, all the events arranged by Dr. Falke turn out for the best. Eisenstein, to his amazement, meets his parlor maid Adele, who brazenly denies her identity, makes friends with the prison warden, and finally falls in love with his own wife, costumed and masked as a Hungarian countess.
ACT 3
Act 3 unties the knots again. It takes place in the prison, which is given a dubious touch by the never-sober bailiff Frosch. Everyone arrives there one by one: after the hungover director Frank, first Adele, who is looking for a patron to train her dramatic talent, together with her sister Ida, then Eisenstein, who learns to his astonishment that he has already been locked up all night; when Rosalinde also appears and, together with the arrested Alfred, demands an interview with a notary, Eisenstein takes the place of the notary Dr. Blind in disguise and thus finds out about the events of the previous evening. Fortunately, he is finally persuaded that these were also part of Dr. Falke's revenge plan, and so everything turns out well, all the more so when Adele actually finds her patron in Prince Orlofsky.
Rarely has a work struck Vienna with such immediacy as Johann Strauss’ »Die Fledermaus«. After its premiere in 1874, the piece was frequently performed, in 1894 court opera honours were bestowed upon it, after which it has remained in the repertoire almost continuously. Ever since 1900, it is nearly always performed on New Year's Eve. With a happy lightheartedness, the most famous of all operettas takes a suggestive look at erotic and social disguise beneath the facade of the 19th-century bourgeoisie – dancing and political and social commentaries included. The always prominent »surprise guest« in the second act of the State Opera’s New Year’s Eve performance is also steeped in tradition: this year, it is soprano Asmik Grigorian, who will make her debut in September in the »Madama Butterfly« premiere.
PLOT
ACT 1
The plot revolves around the ball at Prince Orlofsky's house. In Act 1, all the characters are magnetically drawn to the ball, with the exception of Alfred, the tenor in love with Rosalinde, who wanders like a comet along the fringes of the action: The parlor maid Adele is invited there, as she believes, by her sister Ida and has to invent a touching story about a sick aunt to get exit after some back and forth, and her brother, the reindeer Eisenstein, is persuaded by his friend Dr. Falke is persuaded by his friend Dr. Falke to have a good time with him at Orlofsky's instead of going to prison, which he has been sentenced to for insulting the honor of his office - admittedly, Dr. Falke is pursuing his own plan with this, because Eisenstein once disgraced him in front of the whole town when he let him walk home drunk and dressed as a bat through the streets after a masquerade ball. Now Falke sees the opportunity for revenge has come. That is why he invites Eisenstein's wife Rosalinde to the ball. She gets into considerable confusion beforehand when, after Eisenstein's supposed departure to prison, her former admirer Alfred shows up, presses her heart, but is arrested by the prison warden Frank in Eisenstein's place. Frank, satisfied after this official act, goes to the ball at Orlofsky's.
ACT 2
At Prince Orlofsky's ball, all the events arranged by Dr. Falke turn out for the best. Eisenstein, to his amazement, meets his parlor maid Adele, who brazenly denies her identity, makes friends with the prison warden, and finally falls in love with his own wife, costumed and masked as a Hungarian countess.
ACT 3
Act 3 unties the knots again. It takes place in the prison, which is given a dubious touch by the never-sober bailiff Frosch. Everyone arrives there one by one: after the hungover director Frank, first Adele, who is looking for a patron to train her dramatic talent, together with her sister Ida, then Eisenstein, who learns to his astonishment that he has already been locked up all night; when Rosalinde also appears and, together with the arrested Alfred, demands an interview with a notary, Eisenstein takes the place of the notary Dr. Blind in disguise and thus finds out about the events of the previous evening. Fortunately, he is finally persuaded that these were also part of Dr. Falke's revenge plan, and so everything turns out well, all the more so when Adele actually finds her patron in Prince Orlofsky.