The Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna once again enjoyed great success with the revival of a long-forgotten operetta rarity

 

In 2004, the bicentenary of Johann Strauss Senior’s birth was celebrated. Following its successful tribute to Josef Lanner on the occasion of his 200^th birthday three years earlier, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna once again presented an operetta assembled posthumously from the melodies of the composer. In the case of Johann Strauss Senior, the work was “Die tolle Therese”. Originally premiered on 21^st November 1913 at Vienna’s Raimund Theater, the operetta was a great success, but subsequently faded from the repertoire and sank into oblivion. With the support of the City of Vienna, the work was revived on 7^th March 2004 – more than ninety years after its premiere – in a production by the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna and its Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna at the theatre of the historic Marianum in Wien – Währing. The gala performance was held under the honorary patronage of Hedwig Aigner-Strauss, the head of the Strauss family descendants and great-great-granddaughter of Johann Strauss Senior.

The operetta centres on Therese Krones, the absolute star of Vienna’s Biedermeier era. Her untimely death at the age of just twenty-nine transformed her into a myth. A particularly striking feature of the story is its lack of a conventional happy ending. In this respect, the libretto may be seen as a prototype of the later operettas of Franz Lehár, which were enormously popular with audiences. The production of the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna was presented with the following cast and creative team:

At the end of the performance, the artists’ efforts  were rewarded with thunderous  applause from an exceptionally large audience, which included numerous international guests as well as prominent figures such as actress Marianne Nentwich of the Theater in der Josefstadt and Helga Paouschek, Kurt Schreibmayer, and Herbert Prikopa of the Vienna Volksoper.

 

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