Die Fledermaus in Florence

Regula Mühlemann’s first performances of the year take her to Florence’s Teatro del Maggio, where she’ll star as Adele in Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus.At the centre of this operetta is the classic love triangle, with its ensuing deceptions and scenes of jealousy, in the joyful setting of a masked party where the disguise guarantees a freedom that would otherwise be impossible for the protagonists. In the stupor induced by the fumes of champagne that brighten up the party there seems to be hidden the secret of happiness: better to forget, even if momentarily, rather than accept the inevitable. Thus the lightness and disenchantment of the story are translated musically into a phantasmagorical montage of heterogeneous musical elements. Obviously the beating heart of the Bat beats to the ternary rhythm of the waltz, but the musical potpourri created by Strauss also includes polkas, arias that mimic Italian opera, quotations from the hits of the moment (Offenbach’s operettas) and folk songs, such as the csárdás sung by Rosalinde at the party.

The new production by Josef Ernst Köpplinger will also feature Markus Werba as Gabriel von Eisenstein, Valentina Naforniţa as Rosalinde, Giorgio Berrugi as Alfred and Marina Viotti as Orlofsky. Zubin Mehta conducts. The performances take place on January 16, 18, 20, 21 and 23.