Vol. XIX No. 5
February 2004
An Enduring Favorite Brims With Style, Wit, and Surprises

By BETANY DAHLBERG

With dramatic themes of revenge and love, Die Fledermaus holds true to operatic tradition and at the same time brings its own traditions to the stage.

It is revenge that has been stirring in the heart of Dr. Falke for three years. Stephen Osgood, who will conduct Juilliard's production of Die Fledermaus in the Juilliard Theater this month, believes Dr. Falke—his favorite character in the operetta—is the "catalyst for everything, manipulating everyone. It's really Falke's party."

The challenge of Die Fledermaus is in uncovering a certain edginess hidden under the lace and taffeta.
Die Fledermaus ("The Bat") was Johann Strauss's third opera, and today it is thought of as his most lasting success. Strauss sketched out Die Fledermaus in just 43 days. However, after its premiere on April 5, 1874, at the Theater an der Wien, during a time of depression for Austria, it was canceled after only 16 performances. Today Die Fledermaus is a part of the repertoire of opera houses all over the world. It is Gustav Mahler who is credited with fostering the work's transition from operetta theaters to opera houses. In 1894, Mahler conducted a performance of Die Fledermaus in Hamburg, and a few months later, the Vienna Court Opera staged the work. Not only has it endured, but it is now often regarded as the formula for the perfect operetta.

The story of Die Fledermaus, like that of many Viennese operettas, has a French origin. It is drawn from Le Réveillon, a French vaudeville that is based in turn on the German comedy Das Gefängnis ("The Prison"), written in 1851 by Julius Roderich Benedix. The authors of Le Réveillon, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, both acted as Offenbach's librettists (and together later wrote the libretto to Bizet's Carmen). The story of Die Fledermaus actually begins three years prior to the opening scene. After a costume ball, Dr. Falke was left by his friend Eisenstein outside the city. Falke, drunk and alone, was forced to walk home through the city in his bat costume. Now, three years later, he is about to get his long-awaited revenge.

Throughout the years, Die Fledermaus has undergone many rewritings and adaptations. The operetta has been performed on Broadway and in London's West End, in productions under titles such as Night Birds, The Merry Countess , One Wonderful Night, Champagne Sec, and Roselinde . In fact, in 1929, a version for Max Reinhart in Berlin by Korngold included a striptease number for Roselinde and Adele. Despite these changes, the operetta has retained many of the French vaudeville traditions, such as the comic role of Frosch, the drunken jailer in Act III (usually performed by an actor, since it is a speaking role only). In past performances, it has been played by such comedians as Jack Gilford, Dom DeLuise, and Sid Caesar. In another tradition, Strauss also chose to follow the original casting of a woman for one male character in Le Réveillon and has Prince Orlofsky sung by a mezzo-soprano. (Similarly, Mozart preserved the casting of Beaumarchais' play when he wrote the role of the page Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro for a woman.)

Eve Shapiro, who will direct Juilliard's production of Die Fledermaus, says that directing the operetta seems deceptively easy, with the mixture of "delicacy and grit" found in the score. "The challenge of directing Fledermaus is to achieve the style and the wit in the acting that is so exquisite in the music," she explains. "One must avoid clichéd overacting and find 'the truth' of the piece, uncovering a certain edginess hidden under the lace and taffeta." Stephen Osgood, who conducted 20 performances of Die Fledermaus in the year 2000, agrees that the work presents challenges: "The operetta is delightful, but difficult to conduct. There is so much style inherent in the piece, so much subtle rubato , that it is hard not to make it feel calculated." Osgood also provides insight as to why Die Fledermaus is still so popular: "It is accessible in a complicated way. The melodies are captivating. You listen to any measure of the music and you'll be carried away." There is also plenty of humor: "You hear a flute lick that is hysterical; a single glockenspiel note can evoke a laugh without being fluff."

Juilliard Opera Theater
Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus
Juilliard Theater
Wednesday and Friday, Feb. 18 and 20, 8 p.m.

Free; no tickets required.

Die Fledermaus has a long tradition of appearances by special guests during Prince Orlofsky's party. Surprisingly, this tradition was begun by Strauss himself. For the original party scene, Strauss composed "nationalistic" ballets which he called " Spanisch, Russisch und Ungarisch." He would sometimes include excerpts of other well-known works of his, such as The Blue Danube and Tales From the Vienna Woods. This tradition continued in a special performance presented in 1884, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Strauss's musical debut; during the party scene, characters from his other operas made appearances. In the Metropolitan Opera's premiere of Die Fledermaus in 1905, for a director's benefit performance, 29 world-renowned artists (including Enrico Caruso) appeared in the party scene, performing selections from such works as Falstaff and Rigoletto. These guest appearances have also included larger groups; in the Met's New Year's Eve production in 1954, the Vienna Choir Boys made their appearance at Prince Orlofsky's party.

Audiences will be pleased to find that the Juilliard production will continue Die Fledermaus's longstanding traditions, including a number of special performances of excerpts from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro , Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, and music by Gershwin.

Betany Dahlberg is a master's student in voice.

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