Work of the Week – Johann Strauss (Son): A Night in Venice (Eine Nacht in Venedig)

By Christopher Peter
19 Oct 2025

Operetta ‘A Night in Venice’ with a golden Johann Strauss statue on the right and a Venetian mask on the left with purple feathers and a night-time view of illuminated canals in the background.

Scarcely any composer has set such an impressive musical monument to his hometown of Vienna as the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss (Son). He created an extensive oeuvre of light music, including some of the most popular waltz melodies such as On the Beautiful Blue Danube and Emperor Waltz. He also composed some of the most famous Viennese operettas, including Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron, whose melodies are indispensable at any Viennese New Year's Concert or Opera Ball. This year, the music world celebrates the composer's 200th birthday.

Fittingly for this anniversary, Vienna will see a new production of his "comic operetta" in three acts, A Night in Venice ("Eine Nacht in Venedig"), on October 25, 2025—exactly on Strauss's birthday.

Mistaken Identities and Waltzes in the Lagoon City

The operetta, which premiered in Berlin on October 3, 1883, is set in Venice around the middle of the 18th century during Carnival. The plot centers on Duke Guido of Urbino, a notorious womanizer who plans to cheat on his wife with another beauty during the festivities. To facilitate his romantic adventures, he invites all the city's senators and their wives to a masked ball. The story unfolds as a turbulent comedy of disguises and mistaken identities with amorous confusions.

Although A Night in Venice is today considered a repertoire classic, the work long suffered from a complicated libretto. However, the enormous success and enduring popularity of the operetta are undeniably due to the gorgeous melodies that still encourage audiences to hum along. The most famous musical numbers include the Lagoon Waltz and the Gondola Song.

A Waltz King celebrates his 200th birthday at Vienna

The new production at Vienna will be under the musical direction of Alexander Joel, while the Dutch director Nina Spijkers will stage the operetta. Spijkers, known for her critical readings of theatre classics, aims to explore the work's escapist and hedonistic potential.

The theatre stages this operetta in a tradition maintained by the New Johann Strauss Complete Edition (Neue Johann Strauss Gesamtausgabe), from which the performance material is sourced. This edition, published since 1995, makes available all instrumental and vocal works, as well as all versions of eleven of his stage works.

Performance Dates

Following the premiere on Johann Strauss's 200th birthday on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at 7:00 PM, further performances will take place at Vienna. Dates for the autumn and winter of 2025 include: Wednesday, October 29; Saturday, November 1; Saturday, November 8; Tuesday, November 18; Monday, November 24; Thursday, November 27; Wednesday, December 3; Saturday, December 6; and Friday, December 19.