Der Opernball: “Im chambre séparée” (In our private room)

There was such a demand for operetta in Vienna round the turn of the nineteenth century that even music critics tried their hand at it. Richard Heuberger, who succeeded the formidable Hans Hanslick on the Neue freie Presse, actually proved to be quiet successful in this line even if little of what he wrote is still heard today. Der Opernball (The Opera Ball), which was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in 1898, survives mainly on the undying appeal of its best waltz number, “Im chambre séparée.” Although Der Opernball is clearly an attempt to emulate Die Fledermaus - it is set at a midnight ball in the Paris Opera House - “Im chambre séparée” is quite different from the standard Strauss waltz. Appropriately for a French maidservant in disguise inviting the object of her amorous intentions to drink champagne with her in one of the opera house’s private rooms, it is a seductive slow waltz very much in the Parisian manner.