Das Spitzentuch der Königin
Music by Johann Strauss II · libretto by Richard Genée · premiered 1880
Das Spitzentuch der Königin (The Queen's Lace Handkerchief) is an operetta by Johann Strauss II. The libretto was by Heinrich Bohrmann-Riegen and Richard Genée and is about the Spanish writer Cervantes. Although the operetta is supposedly based on a fictitious incident in the court of Portugal in the 1500s, in fact "it's a send-up of the court of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, with the young king in the story representing Crown Prince Rudolf, 19 years of age at the time, whose death nine years later was one of the big Habsburg family tragedies".
Text from the Wikipedia article "Das Spitzentuch der Königin", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Johann Baptist Strauss II (; German: [ˈjoːhan bapˈtɪst ˈʃtʁaʊs]; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (German: Johann Strauß Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas, as well as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King", as he played a major role in popularizing the waltz in the 19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer" (Emperor Waltz), "Tales from the Vienna Woods", "Frühlingsstimmen" (Voices…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Johann Strauss II", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Johann Strauss II
- Der Karneval in Rom (1861)
- Die Fledermaus (1874)
- Die Fledermaus discography (1874)
- Cagliostro in Wien (1875)
- Blindekuh (1878)
- Der lustige Krieg (1881)
- Eine Nacht in Venedig (1883)
- Die Göttin der Vernunft (1897)