The most significant work of operettas is once again on the program of Europe's leading operetta house - the Volkopera Vienna - in this season.

Franz Lehár's masterpiece began its triumphant progress around the world in Austria's Danube metropolis with the 1905 world premiere. Therefore, it is surprising that the first performance of "The Merry Widow" at the Volksoper took place only in 1953; since then, however, this operetta has been performed 750 times in five different productions and belongs to the core repertoire of the house.

In 1905: the originality of this operetta lies in the open eroticism of the action and the sensuousness of the music, such as that expressed by "lips are silent, violins whisper, love me..." The story is about a recently widowed millionairess who must find herself a husband for "reasons of state". The fact that the prospective husband turns out to be the fun-loving Danilo ("Then I'm off to Maxim's") doesn't make the task of the Pontevidrinian diplomats any easier.

With "The Merry Widow", Franz Lehár revealed his unique personal style. Like no other operetta composer thus far he successfully wove together music and action. In response to the criticism that his operettas were too operatic, tragic and sentimental, he answered: "I cannot understand why it should be the aim of operetta to turn all that which is beautiful and sublime into the ridiculous and laughable. My purpose is to refine operetta!"

The fact that this statement is still relevant today guarantees the success of French director Daniel Dollé's new staging of the "The Merry Widow" - set in a sensually intoxicating "fin de siecle ambience"!