Schön ist die Welt

In an alpine blind date, car-driving Princess Elisabeth and mountaineering Crown Prince George encounter the risks associated with a high-altitude mountain tour. This sassy operetta rarity by Franz Lehár celebrates uninhibited freedom and love on summits beyond the tree line with what is probably the longest love duet in the history of operetta.

The emergence of alpine melodramas in the cinema of the 1920s and 1930s inspired Franz Lehár to create a fine and original operetta with an opulent musical structure, colourful images of nature and lively dances ranging from waltz and slow fox to tango and rumba.

It is a classic case of force majeure when two people climb a summit together and are then kept away from civilization for an entire night due to a gigantic avalanche. Love has thwarted the marriage plans of the blue-blooded parents of Princess Elisabeth and Crown Prince George and yet has led their rebellious children exactly where they should have ended up in their strategic plans in the first place. Incognito and out in the wild, the two have met by chance, each on the run from the demands of their parents who have gathered at a fashionable mountain resort in order to unite the two noble families economically through marriage. But the offspring refuse to follow their parents’ plans.

Franz Lehár’s new version of his operetta Endlich allein (Alone at last), which premiered in Vienna in 1914, was first performed at the Metropoltheater in Berlin in 1930. It was tailored entirely to the vocal dream couple Richard Tauber and Gitta Alpar. For some time now, the alpine operetta has been experiencing a renaissance, mostly as a concert performance. Director Florian Kutej will prove at Oper Graz that a staged performance of Schön ist die Welt makes the Alps shine even brighter.

Age recommendation: 10+