The premiere of A Night in Venice in Berlin on October 3, 1883, conducted by Johann Strauss II himself, was disrupted in the third act when audience members sang "meow" during a Duke's song.
Instruments
The Stockholm Strauss Orchestra, founded in 1992, is composed of fifty players from major Swedish orchestras and follows the original Wiener Johann Strauss-Capelle instrumentation.
Critical Reception
After its initial troubled premiere, A Night in Venice became a worldwide success, especially after Johann Strauss II made revisions to the text and shortened the dialogue for a performance in Vienna.
Composition History
Johann Strauss II, the composer, wanted a new operetta libretto set in Italy with a finale in St Mark's Square in Venice after the success of his 1881 operetta, Der lustige Krieg.
Cultural Impact
For over fifty years, an altered and fuller orchestration of A Night in Venice by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a composer and arranger, was almost the only version performed, after Johann Strauss II's music lost copyright protection.
Composition History
The story for A Night in Venice, presented to Johann Strauss II by librettists F. Zell and R. Genée, was copied from a French play, almost causing a scandal before its premiere.
Recording & Production
This live recording of A Night in Venice uses the original 1883 Viennese version, published in 1970, but omits spoken dialogue and makes small cuts to allow artists to leave the stage.
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