As is tradition, this year too, with the exception of Offenbach, whose famous Can-can will be performed , the New Year's concert will feature Viennese waltz and operetta composers, particularly Johann Strauss Jr., Franz Lehár, Eduard Künneke, Emmerich Kálmán , and Robert Stolz. Johann Strauss Jr. will open the concert with the Overture to Die Fledermaus (The Fledermaus ), which, premiered on April 5, 1874, to great acclaim at the Theater an-der Wien, is his most famous and important operetta. Indeed, Strauss, the famous waltz king , had, before this work, devoted himself to the theater with little success. The resounding failure of the first performance of his operetta Der Karneval in Rom  ( Carnival in Rome ) in 1873 had discouraged Strauss to the point of leading him to stop writing for the theatre, despite Offenbach having predicted great success in this field as well ten years earlier. It was most likely the high quality of Richard Genée's libretto that convinced Strauss, who, immediately attracted by the text, composed the operetta in just 43 days. The libretto by Richard Genée and Carl Haffner draws its inspiration from the vaudeville play Le reveillon ( The New Year's Eve Party ), written by the duo Meilhac and Halévy and translated into German by Karl Haffner at the request of the director of the Carltheater, Maximilian Steiner. At the first performance, the audience gave unanimous approval to the overture . In it, in a musical structure that only apparently recalls sonata form, all the main motifs of the operetta appear, especially that of the trio from Act III that runs through it from beginning to end. The rhythm of dance dominates the composition, and in particular that of the waltz, which reaches its climax in the reprise of the rousing theme from the ball scene that concludes Act II. The duet " Komm mit mir zum Souper" ( Come to Dinner with Me ) is taken from Act I, in which Falke, the bat, invites the landowner Eisenstein to the ball to be held at Prince Orlofsky's villa. The theme of this duet would be used by Strauss in the Fledermaus-Polka  of 1874. Richard Genée, this time together with Friedrich Zell, provided Strauss with the libretto of Eine Nacht in Venedig ( A Night in Venice).) which, however, was a real fiasco at its first performance in Berlin on 3 October 1883. The libretto, set in 18th-century Venice, was the one most criticised. Guido, Duke of Urbino, had organized a party in the ducal palace, where love and mockery were intertwined. Among the most beautiful passages is Ach, wie so herrlich zu schaun ( Ah, how splendid it is to behold ), sung in the third act by the duke, whose melody would later be used by Strauss in the Lagunen-Walzer , in a mutual interchange between his instrumental and theatrical production, which characterised other works by the Austrian composer. An example of this is the waltz Rosen aus dem Süden (Roses of the South) , which is melodically related to the operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königin ( The Queen's Lace Handkerchief ), which was first performed to considerable acclaim on 1 October 1880 at the Theater an der Wien. The waltz was a greater success than the operetta itself at its premiere on 7 November 1880 at the Musikverein, conducted by his brother Eduard, and was appreciated above all for the poetic nature of its music, rich in a typically Viennese charm, which was already present in the introduction. Published in two different versions, the second of which is dedicated to King Umberto I with the deepest respect , this work draws its melodic material precisely from two arias from the operetta, including the king's aria from the first act, Stets kommt mir Wieder in den Sinn (Always come back to me ), the famous refrain that Strauss claimed to have rewritten 12 times, and from the romance from the second act, Wo die wilde Rose erblüht (Where the wild rose blooms) . Perpetuum mobile (Perpetual motion) , op. 257, on the other hand, has no relation to the production of operettas, the composition of which should instead be linked to Strauss's concert activity. In 1861, the Austrian composer, riding the wave of successes achieved during the Carnival of 1859 and 1860, in the benefit concerts conducted by himself and his brother Josef, who, leading two different orchestras, performed around fifty dances, organized an even more ambitious show with three balls in a single evening which was announced by the newspaper « Fremden-Blatt » : “For the first time in Vienna.

New Year's Concert

Teatro Politeama Garibaldi

Dieter Kerschbaum

Events

Past events

Jan 1, 2026

New Year's Concert · Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Rosen aus dem Süden by II

Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana

Singer in Die Fledermaus by Strauss

Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana

Singer in Eine Nacht in Venedig by II

Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana

Singer in Der Favorit by Stolz

Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana

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