Johann Strauss II

1825 - 1899

Strauss was born in Vienna,

Austria.

Similar to Handel, Strauss’s

father did not want him to

become a musician;

nevertheless, he studied the

violin secretly as a child.

Strauss was a composer known

especially for his waltzes, such as

The Blue Danube (An der schönen

blauen Donau) and for his most

popular opera, Die Fledermaus

(The Bat).

The Blue Danube:

The instrumental version is by far

the most commonly performed

waltz in the world today.

Due to his worldwide success with

The Blue Danube, Strauss became

known as “The Waltz King.”

Die Fledermaus is a comic operetta. Despite

being an operetta, it is claimed by Opera

America to be the nineteenth most

performed “opera" in North America.

The Baron von Eisenstein has been committed to prison for eight days for

insulting an official, partly through the inefficiency of his attorney, the

stuttering Notary Blind, and is to begin his imprisonment this day. His friend,

Dr. Falke, however, persuades him to postpone it until the morrow and to

accompany him to a ball at the residence of Prince Orlofsky, where he will

meet the handsome ladies of the opera ballet. Falke had been at a masked ball

the previous winter, costumed as a bat, and had been compelled by Eisenstein

to walk to his home in broad daylight to the joy and amusement of the

populace. He hopes to find an opportunity for vengeance at the coming ball.

Eisenstein accepts the invitation, and telling his wife he is going to prison, and

taking a mournful farewell of her and the maid Adèle, hastens with Falke to

the ball. After his departure Rosalinde, his wife, is visited by a former

admirer, the singing teacher, Alfred, whose behaviour is rather free. The

night has set in and Frank, the governor of the prison, has come to take

Eisenstein to jail. He finds Alfred taking his ease attired in a smoking jacket,

and he, in order not to compromise Rosalinde, moved by her prayers, is

induced to represent himself as Eisenstein and to accompany Frank.

Falke has also invited the governor of the prison, Frank, the maid Adèle, and

to complete the joke, Rosalinde, to be his guests at the ball. The latter, in

order to observe her husband, appears masked. She is introduced by Falke as

an Hungarian countess, and succeeds in abstracting from the pockets of her

husband his valuable watch, to use in the future as evidence of his

impropriety. Frank has paid court to Adèle, and the next morning they all

find themselves in prison, when the confusion increases, for Falke has

introduced Eisenstein as Marquis Renard, Frank as Chevalier Chagrin and

Adèle as an actress. It is still further increased by the jailer, Frosch, who has

profited by the absence of the prison director to become gloriously drunk.

Adèle arrives to obtain the assistance of the Chevalier Chagrin, Eisenstein to

begin his prison term, Alfred wants to get out of jail, Rosalinde to commence

action for divorce, and Frank is still intoxicated. Frosch locks up Adèle and

her sister Ida, and the height of the tumult has been reached when Falke

arrives with all the guests of the ball and declares the whole as an act of

vengeance for the "Fledermaus." Everything is amicably arranged, but

Eisenstein is compelled to serve his full term in jail.