A Waltz Dream
Ein Waltzertraum

COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTION

The Austria of 1907 was ripe for a work such as A Waltz Dream. Emperor Franz Joseph was old and ill, his brother, Maximilian been executed in Mexico, his son Rudolph shot himself and his mistress at Mayerling, and his wife Elizabeth was assassinated by an anarchist in Geneva. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, with its capital at Vienna, was reaching its end. New political forces were stirring throughout Europe; Lenin and Trotsky were in Vienna playing chess in a café and possibly plotting. Vienna tried to ignore the changes with a new kind of operetta, Lehár's The Merry Widow, which was playing at the Theater an der Wien

The story of the composition of A Waltz Dream is worthy of a Hollywood movie. Oscar Straus was friends with a certain Countess, a Viennese beauty, who tried to lead him back to composing 'serious' music, i.e. writing for the Vienna Court Opera, instead of creating comic parodies such as The Merry Niebelungs. One evening they were dining at the "Eisvogel" (Kingfisher) restaurant in the Prater, when twelve young women, members of the "Prater-Swallows" orchestra, appeared. They played excerpts from The Merry Niebelungs to weak applause, but then they played the "On the Beautiful Blue Danube", and the audience was enraptured. Oscar took due note of this and realized he was meant to write true light Viennese music, not sophisticated foreign-style opera.

The leader of the orchestra (the model for Franzi in A Waltz Dream) recognized Straus and introduced herself, suggesting he write a Viennese Waltz for her ensemble. He hastily scribbled four bars in 3/4 time on the tablecloth.

(The Countess was not amused.) The next day Oscar worked all day and returned to the restaurant, sat down at the piano, and the girls joined in on their instruments. The new piece was to became the signature waltz of A Waltz Dream. Straus returned to "Eisvogel" every evening and got to know the girls and of their travels all over the world, always homesick for Vienna. It just so happened that a young writer (Leopold Jacobson) was also at the restaurant nightly, listening and wishing he could write the words to something like The Merry Widow. He had the idea for a plot in which a young Viennese officer in a foreign country was ordered to marry its princess, but he needed more details. Then he found a short story Only the Prince Consort (Nur der Prinzgemahl) by Hans Müller-Einigen, and everything fell into place. He spoke to Straus, and they went right to work. However, while Jacobson could write the story, he was not a lyricist so they turned to Felix Dörmann for the songs. The resulting work was offered to the manager of the Carltheater, who took agreed to produce it.

After the dress rehearsal, the Countess came to see Straus, fell on her knees, and begged him to withdraw "this horribly vulgar product of a disastrous visit to the Prater". He declined. Just before the opening night the leader of the "Prater-Swallows", came to say good-bye and wish Oscar success; once more the orchestra was to leave their beloved Vienna to go on tour. All were uncertain of the success of A Waltz Dream, but their fears were baseless; the public went wild with enthusiasm. Before closing, A Waltz Dream had over 1,000 performances in Vienna alone and it soon traveled all over the world*. It was a success everywhere but London where it was soon withdrawn. However, after three years a new version was given in London which was a success.

One unexpected result of its success in Vienna was the effect it had on the social landscape around the Carltheater; prostitutes from all over Vienna moved there hoping to exploit the opportunity for increased trade, and nearby houses had to change to accommodate the demand. When news of the operetta's closing appeared, the "professionals" wrote to Straus thanking him for their increased business, hoping he would soon write another such work so they should continue to prosper.

In the seven years up to World War I, A Waltz Dream had a total of over 10,000 performances all over the world and, before Straus's death, had had three times that number. In 1931 it was made into the film The Smiling Lieutenant with Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch it was nominated for an Academy Award as best picture. Near the end of his life Straus was asked to adapt A Waltz Dream for Munich Opera. He made significant changes in the score and orchestration to make it more "modern", and the result was a great success in Germany.

Years later, a Hollywood reporter asked Straus if there was one moment in his life he would like to live over and, without hesitation, he replied: "The opening night of A Waltz Dream. ... Never before or since have I had that overwhelming feeling of having all my ambitions achieved, of sitting on top of the world and being absurdly, deliriously happy."

* Examples:
Chestnut Street Opera House, Philadelphia Jan 6, 1908 (adapted by Joseph Herber)
Broadway Theatre, New York (Herber Jan 27, 1908, 111 performances.
Hicks Theatre, London (adapted by Adrian Ross and Basil Hood) Mar 28, 1908.