Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss

So, when's the last time you heard an operetta? We mean a whole operetta - not just a showy aria by Victor Herbert, or a smidgin of fluff by Gilbert and Sullivan. It's probably been a while. If so, it's not because there simply aren't many of them. It's just that there aren't many that you'll ever have a chance to hear. Of the hundreds of operettas that have been written, only two remain in the standard repertory. One is Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow, which we heard earlier this year from the Metropolitan Opera. The other is the Met's perennial New Year's celebration, DIE FLEDERMAUS by Strauss. But while New Year's Eve is the usual time to hear "Fledermaus" it's not the only time, as this week's opera broadcast proves - it's an unusual production in English from the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Accordingly, this week on At the Opera, host Lou Santacroce takes an unusual approach to Strauss's merry little drama: Lou examines it as a drama of vengeance. You know, like The Godfather, or Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. OK, so DIE FLEDERMAUS isn't exactly as murderous as the Godfather movies or as dark and disturbing as Edgar Allen Poe. It is an example of what happens when vengeance becomes a story's motivating factor - even when the story is a comedy.

Also, Lou looks at another, more bubbly force behind the action in DIE FLEDERMAUS - champagne; he'll talk with regular guest Will Berger about the confusing proliferation of musical Strausses; and Michelle Kreisel takes us through the musical highlights of Johann Strauss's evocative depiction of an aristocratically festive Vienna. You can tune in At the Opera half-an-hour before curtain time at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Links: