Theater an der Wien

First premiere: the curtain finally rises!

Such a ring game is funny: Beate Ritter as Donna Irene

(Bild: Theater an der Wien/Werner Kmetitsch)

With the Strauss operetta "Das Spitzentuch der Königin", which was once premiered here but was later forgotten, the Theater an der Wien is experiencing its scenic reopening on Saturday.

"The truffle, the truffle, oh, the table's most beautiful ornament. She lay so enclosed in the delicate pastry. As soft as in the warm nest, a little bird poured down", the King of Portugal craves the precious mushroom in the rarity "The Queen's Lace Shawl". 

The Theater an der Wien is not to be outdone and serves up this truffled Strauss delicacy as the first staged production after the delayed renovation on the stage, which is once again in working order.

Maximilian Mayer takes to the operetta stage as the poet Cervantes

(Bild: Theater an der Wien/Werner Kmetitsch)

The house remains true to itself. Like many of Strauss' plays, "Das Spitzentuch der Königin" was first performed at the Theater an der Wien. The curtain went up on October 1, 1880. It was an important moment for Strauss, as he wanted to make up for the fiasco of his previous operetta "Blindekuh", which had flopped two years earlier, and perhaps build on the huge success of "Fledermaus", which was first performed there in 1874.

The exercise succeeded. The "Vorstadt Zeitung" reported on a "glittering success" that had not been experienced for a long time. Strauss himself conducted and the overture was "warmly received". The absurd plot about the incompetent king and his queen, who falls in love with the "Don Quixote" poet Cervantes, was also entertaining as a parody of the rebellious Crown Prince Rudolf and his liberal ideas.

Theater an der Wien - A house with a resounding history

Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of the "Magic Flute", received permission to build the theater from Emperor Franz II in 1800

After just 13 months, the Empire-style building was opened on June 13, 1801 - only part of the exterior has been preserved, as well as the former main portal, the "Papageno Gate", which shows Schikaneder as Papageno.

Beethoven's 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th symphonies were premiered here. Symphony, his opera "Fidelio" (1805), Nestroy's farce "Der Zerrissene" (1844), Johann Strauss' "Fledermaus" (1874) and "Zigeunerbaron" (1885), Carl Millöcker's "Bettelstudent" (1882), Franz Lehár's "Lustige Witwe" (1905) and numerous musicals in the 1990s ("Elisabeth", "Mozart".

It has been an opera house again since 2006.

"Today, it is no longer possible to understand many of these sideswipes without prior historical knowledge, although some allusions to the political situation are still astonishingly topical," says director Christian Thausing. The waltz "Roses from the South", composed from motifs from the work, has survived. The new production in Strauss' year will show whether the rest still holds up today.