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Under the headline “Why Lortzing?”, the evening’s programme lists 20 reasons by Lortzing biographer Jürgen Lodemann why this composer should not be forgotten, including the fact that Lortzing’s operas were the most-performed in Germany for about 150 years.

Smetana wrote Prodaná nevěsta (“The Bartered Bride”) as a light Czech folk piece in a playful reply to critics who said that his music was too Wagnerian, or too German for that matter – something not compatible with the growing Czech national consciousness in the period he composed it (1863–66), even though he only showed mild interest in the Czech cause.

After twelve long years, Oscar Straus’ Ein Walzertraum has made it back to the Volksoper, the place where it belongs for its indestructible Viennese spirit and never-ending popularity, and where Robert Meyer, the house’s boss and director on this occasion, customarily ensures that the traditional operetta is sheltered from modernist conceptual stagings.