ANOTHER STRAUSS OPERETTA RARITY FOR A FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY
New production of the operetta “Waldmeister” celebrates
the 75th anniversary of the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna
As it had done for its 70th anniversary, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna marked its 75th anniversary with a new production of a Johann Strauss operetta. While the Society had celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2006 with a concert performance, five years later it commemorated its 75th birthday with a fully staged production. With the support of the City of Vienna, the Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna presented “Waldmeister”, the Waltz King’s penultimate operetta, in a new adaptation by the the Society’s president, Prof. Mag. Peter Widholz, which reduced the work to its seven principal characters.
This time, the gala performance took place in Hietzing, a Vienna district with particularly close ties to Johann Strauss and his career as an artist. The venue was just a few steps from the spot where Johann Strauss made his first public appearance as a composer and conductor in 1844, and only about 200 metres from the house where he composed “Die Fledermaus”. In the Grand Festival Hall of the Hietzing District Office (see the cover photo of this article), the new production of “Waldmeister” celebrated its successful premiere on 13th October 2011, under the honorary patronage of Hedwig Aigner-Strauss, head of the Strauss family’s descendants.
As the cast list indicates, it was once again possible to secure the participation of Trude Stemmer, the once-celebrated soubrette of the legendary operetta ensemble of Vienna’s Raimund Theater. She assumed the role of Malvine, the comic old woman, in this late work by Johann Strauss. The beloved artist had already appeared in the very first operetta production presented by the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna in 2001. Now, for this commemorative gala performance, she returned to the stage once again.
Following the production’s great success, the management of the Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt subsequently sought to bring the production to its own stage. In 2010 and again in 2012, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna had already appeared here with two different operettas by Oscar Straus. On 15th March 2013, it returned to the historic theatre south of Vienna with “Waldmeister”, marking its first presentation there of a work by Johann Strauss. Following its great success in 2012, the Vienna Guards Band was once again invited by the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna to participate in its production of “Waldmeister”. In 2012, the Guards Band had taken part in the Society’s production of Oscar Straus’s operetta “The Chocolate Soldier” (Der tapfere Soldat) at the Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt. The performance was a milestone in music history, as the Guards Band was the first military orchestra to perform from the orchestra pit in a music-theatre production (see the article in this section for the year 2012). As the vast majority of the musicians in the ensemble were soldiers completing their compulsory military service, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna once again fulfilled one of its key objectives: it helped pass on the world-renowned tradition of Viennese dance and operetta music to future generations.
As in the previous year, Colonel Mag. Bernhard Heher, Austria’s Director of Military Music and Bandmaster of the Guards, once again took the podium for “Waldmeister”, ensuring an authentic musical interpretation.
The Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna appeared in its original premiere cast, with only the role of Malvine being recast. In response to the different stage conditions, the young artist Winston Wagner designed a new set, which significantly contributed to the success of “Waldmeister” at the Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt.
