Strauss Jr, "Die Fledermaus" - Overture

When Die Fledermaus was premiered in the crowded and famous Theater an der Wien, on April 5, 1874, the Viennese citizens were in no mood for celebrations. Although less than a year earlier Vienna had hosted the first World's Fair in a German-speaking region, at the same time the booming capitalism was beginning to experience the first and largest of its recurrent systemic crises, following the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange and the immediately subsequent bankruptcy of a powerful banking institution in Philadelphia. The depression, known as the Long Depression, was global in scope and lasted until 1879.

Life on the downside

The economic panic brought down fortunes overnight and hundreds of businesses, including theaters, were affected. As a result, the Viennese bourgeoisie was forced to opt for a rather more austere lifestyle, much to its regret... The Viennese of then, those who in 1850 enjoyed their leisure time drinking in beer halls and cafés and fulfilling the seats of theaters and concert halls, were no longer the same in 1874.

Johann Straus II (1825 - 1899)

Anyway, a success

Despite the adverse conditions, the three-act operetta Die Fledermaus, the most famous of the 16 operettas composed by Johann Strauss Jr, was a remarkable success on the day of its premiere. To this day it remains part of the standard repertoire in its genre, although it is its overture that takes the cake. As an everlasting tribute to the Strauss family, the overture is performed every year for the New Year's Concert in Vienna, ever since the Musikverein began the series of concerts welcoming the new year in the early thirties.

Die Fledermaus - Overture
The 2010 version is presented here, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the French conductor Georges Prêtre. The tune that everyone is able to recognize and which identifies the work can be heard from minute 3:05 onwards.

The Viennese citizens will have been reconciled with life, we presume.