Composed in 1873 and premiered in 1874, Die Fledermaus remains one of Johann Strauss’s greatest operetta hits. The work is based off of a French script, Reveillon, by librettists Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac and was reworked into a suitable German libretto by writers Karl Haffner and Richard Genée. 

Filled with flirtation, mistaken identity, and plots for revenge, this comedic operetta brought laughter and entertainment to an Austria struggling to recover from an economic downturn turning it into an overnight success. 

The Overture features two warring principal motives, a duple-time dance melody and a bustling waltz, interspersed with “potpourri-style” references to the operetta’s most memorable numbers. Despite the interruptions, these two tunes duke it out to the end, bringing the work to its effervescent conclusion.