Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice) is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II. Its libretto was by F. Zell and Richard Genée based on Le Château Trompette by Eugène Cormon and Richard Genée. The farcical, romantic story involves several cases of mistaken identity.
The piece premiered in 1883 in Berlin and then Vienna. It became one of Strauss's three most famous stage works and has been seen in New York, London and elsewhere, and has been adapted for film.
History
The piece premiered in Berlin on 3 October 1883 in the , and it is Strauss's only operetta to be premiered outside Vienna. Although the press praised Strauss's music, they criticized the libretto as banal and silly; for instance, references were made to roast beef made from the sole of a boot and, in the waltz scene, the character of Duke Urbino was singing passages of "meows", which was met with much embarrassment from the Berlin audience. Unperturbed, Strauss made several alterations to the work with his librettists and scored a triumph in his native Vienna at the Theater an der Wien, where it ran for 44 consecutive performances from 9 October 1883. The operetta became established as one of Strauss's three most recognisable stage works alongside Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron. A 1923 production, starring Richard Tauber at the Theater an der Wien, used a score and libretto revised by composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold and writer Hubert Marischka, which was later used in other productions and recordings.
The work played at Daly's Theatre in 1884, staged by J.C. Duff’s Comic Opera Company, and in 1900 at the American Theatre on Broadway in New York. English language versions have included one with a translation by Lesley Storm and lyrics by Dudley Glass that played at the Cambridge Theatre in London in 1944, one for English National Opera in 1976 at the London Coliseum by Murray Dickie and a 1980s production for the Light Opera of Manhattan by Alice Hammerstein Matthias. Ohio Light Opera performed the work in 1981, 1991, 1999 and 2009, recording it in 2000.
In 1934 the work was adapted as a German operetta film, A Night in Venice, directed by Robert Wiene. A Hungarian version of the film was made simultaneously. Like both films before, (1942) uses only Strauss's music and the title "Night in Venice". The 1953 version A Night in Venice follows the libretto of F. Zell and Richard Genée.
Roles
Synopsis
Act 1
It is an evening in eighteenth-century Venice. In a square on the Grand Canal, with a view across to the Ducal Palace and the Isle of San Giorgio, people stroll around as the sun goes down, while the tradeswomen call out their wares. The young Neapolitan macaroni cook Pappacoda observes that, for all the splendours of the city, Venetians do not have everything without their macaroni cook. "Macaroni as long as the Grand Canal, with as much cheese as there is sand in the Lido" – that is what Pappacoda offers. The young man is approached by Enrico, a naval officer, enquiring whether the Senator Delacqua is at home. When he is told that he is at a sitting of the Senate, Enrico sees it as an opportunity for a few private minutes with the Senator's young wife Barbara. However, she also is out, so Enrico slips Pappacoda a coin to give Barbara a letter with the message that Enrico will be ready for her at nine o'clock that evening.
As the people watch, a boat arrives carrying Annina, a fisher-girl, who is hawking her fruitti di mare. Pappacoda greets her, hinting that what has really brought her hither is the imminent arrival of the Duke of Urbino, and more particularly his barber Caramello, Annina's sweetheart. "Caramello is a monster, a ne'er-do-well, and a conceited blockhead into the bargain", she pouts. "Stupidity is no hindrance to love", Pappacoda retorts, sampling an oyster. "After all, I'm passionately in love with Ciboletta, Signora Delacqua's pretty cook – a girl as stupid as this oyster, and yet just as appetising, just as worthy of catching!"
When Barbara Delacqua returns home, Pappacoda gives her the message from Enrico and receives another tip for his troubles. Annina departs with Barbara, leaving Pappacoda to greet his own girlfriend, Ciboletta. She is wondering when they are going to get married, and he promises that they will do so just as soon as he gets a position in service.