New-Yorker Stadt-Theater Opera: Fledermaus

Brief.

Full cast list. 

“‘Die Fledermaus,’ a comic opera in three acts with music from the Viennese Waltz King Johann Strauss will be performed tonight for the first time at the Stadt-Theater. The opera, which in Germany—but especially in Berlin and Vienna—has been an extraordinary success, will be presented by the Neuendorff troupe with the utmost care and entirely new scenery. Fräulein Lina Mayr will sing ‘Rosalinda,’ a role with which she achieved a triumph in Germany, particularly in Berlin. The other roles are also well filled.”

“Before an overflowing house on Saturday night, Johann Strauss’s three-act comic opera ‘Die Fledermaus’ was given for the first time at the Stadt-Theater. It was also given again last night to an even warmer, more enthusiastic reception than on the first night. The libretto of ‘Fledermaus’ was adapted from French for Strauss by C. Haffner and Richard Genee. The adaptation is hardly a masterpiece. But the plot is so fantastic and so entertaining, offering so many comic scenes and complications (even if not all of them entirely new), that one is happy to overlook the occasional barbaric verse and the loose construction of the whole. After all, the main attraction lies in Strauss’s music, and the music completely compensates for the sins of the text’s adaptors. Good operas and librettos are rarities; our greatest composers have often had to make due with the weak patchworks of mediocre rhyme-smiths. Strauss’s music for ‘Die Fledermaus’ does not consist solely of waltzes and polkas, though the opera’s best numbers do move in those dance rhythms so common for this composer. The first bars of the overture—if one can call the piquant potpourri that constitutes this introduction an ‘overture’—do not remind one of the Waltz King. But just as one arrives at the conclusion that Strauss is traversing new ground with this operetta, there arises very quietly and softly from the violins an invitation to dance, a proper waltz prelude from the depths of the orchestra. The composer does not allow them to linger, though, as he quickly breaks from them and returns to the overture’s first motives. Yet he cannot resist for long. The spirit his dances call and lure until he gives in—and then comes a waltz, a proper, Viennese waltz of the kind only Strauss could write, which is followed by one merry dance theme after another. And so it goes throughout the whole opera. The best numbers of the first act are the duet between Falke and Eisenstein, the extremely funny trio that follows it, and the entire finale. The second act is a grand masked ball, and for it Strauss is very much in his element. On the stage, just as in the orchestra, there is skipping, dancing, drinking, and singing in waltz and polka time [im Walzer- und Polka-Takte] throughout the act; even the couplets of the drinking song (with chorus) praise champagne. A Hungarian song (designated as an aria) brings a pretty musical contrast, a melancholy, poetic introduction that gives way to a wild, exuberant, and truly Hungarian Czardas. The waltz that Strauss wrote for the pinnacle of the celebrations is one of the most electrifying and gripping dances he ever composed. In the first scene of the third act Strauss recalls the main motive of the second act, through an echo, as a reminder of the previous night’s revelry; it is extremely well adapted to the dramatic situation. The next numbers are unimportant, but the finale, which begins with ‘O Fledermaus! O Fledermaus! Lass endlich jetzt Dein Opfer aus!,’ is also finely crafted and makes for a brilliant conclusion to the opera. How finely and wittily Strauss understands instrumentation and characterization is already well known from his other works. ‘Die Fledermaus’ is in this respect no exception; the work arouses the interest of the musician from beginning to end. The performance of this operetta in the local city theater must be described as having brought credit in every respect to the house, Herr Neuendorff, and all the participants. ‘Die Fledermaus’ was rehearsed with care and afforded a liberality [liberalität] previously unknown at the city theater. From the first act, the new appointments—an eleganty furnished and decorated living room—made a pleasing and favorable impression. The greatest artistry, however, was that shown by the painter and costumer for the ball scenes. Through a ballroom decorated by chandeliers, candelabras, statues, and more, one sees beyond into a garden terrace, in front of whose shady trees and walkways a veritable [veritabler] fountain, the playfully moving water of which shimmers in the candlelight. The costumes of the second act are quite original and brilliant. The opera presents considerable difficulties where production is concerned, especially in the second act, which from beginning to end is really just a big ensemble piece, in which everything, so as not to lose its effect, must mesh quickly and smoothly. On the first evenings this was not entirely successful, but in the next performances all troubles should be resolved. The protagonist of the operetta, ‘Rosalinde von Eichenstein,’ lies in the hands of Fräulein Lina Mayr. This ‘chic’ [fesche] Viennese woman, who is amiable, frivolous, and carless—but yet virtuous—suits Lina Mayr perfectly, and no one can resist the teasing, witty humor of her acting and singing. Among the vocal numbers of her part, the aforementioned Hungarian song, which she performs at the masked ball, warrants notice; she begins, entirely in keeping with her character, some what dreamily and with melancholy, until, with a bold leap, she reaches the merry, flying notes of the gypsy dance. The couplet of the introduction to the first-act trio is likewise effectively sung by her, just as the half-polka, half-waltz ‘Mein Herr, was dächten Sie von mir, Sätz’ich mir einem Fremden hier’ in the first-act finale. But what do the individual numbers amount to? Her performance as a whole must be seen and heard in order to be judged. But we can assure our readers that Mayr’s ‘Rosalinde’ is an attractive, original creation—a masterpiece—just as most of her roles here have so far been. We will discuss in detail the performances of Fräulein Heynold, Fräulein Beckmann, and Herrn. Schütz, Schonwolff, Witt, etc., soon. This interesting novelty will be performed every evening of the week from Tuesday. Judging by the overwhelming success of the first performances, ‘Die Fledermaus’ is likely to become a popular piece on our stages for some time to come.”