On the French side of the Rhine – even, of the Danube – the name Richard Heuberger doesn't ring many bells. In fact he was one of the major composers of the golden age of the Viennese operetta, alongside Zeller, Johann Strauss junior of course, Suppé and Millöcker. But it is true that, apart from Strauss's works, this repertoire never really broke out of the German-speaking world. That's a shame, in particular in the case of Der Opernball by Heuberger, as the action takes place in Paris: the libretto is taken from Les Dominos roses by the two very-French Alfreds: Alfred Delacour and Alfred Hennequin – so translating the operetta into French would in no way have been a departure: on the contrary. So, it is true that Heuberger's language remains powerfully Viennese, but no less than that of Strauss, who, on the other hand, is played constantly on stages across France.
Lovers of the Viennese operetta will delight in (re)discovering this Opernball written in 1898 (with no lesser personage than Zemlinsky helping on the orchestration), and several passages took on cult status after its first performance, in particular "gehen wir ins chambre séparée", with its polished waltz theme. This recording, with a line-up that brings together singers from the great Austrian and German troops (Vienna and Munich) around the Graz Orchestra – Graz being the town of Heuberger's birth – has everything that you'd expect from this glorious repertoire: brilliant voices and the Viennese accent on tap, in particular in several short dialogues. A delicacy! © SM/Qobuz