Nacht

Johann Strauss II (arr Anton Paulik)

A Night in Venice (Eine Nacht in Venedig): Tipsy Song (Schwips-Lied)

There is another lavish ball scene in Eine Nacht in Venedig, which was first performed in Berlin and Vienna in 1883, nine years after Die Fledermaus and with almost as much success in spite of its clumsy libretto. Although the occasion for the ball in this case is a Carnival night in 18th century Venice, it is just like the other in providing a context for masks, disguises and mistaken identities. It also gave Anton Paulik, who made a new version of the work for the Vienna Volksoper in 1948, to introduce an extra song for Anina, a fisher girl, who is admitted to the Duke of Urbino’s palace in disguise as a Senator’s wife. In this version, not being used to the high life, she finds herself getting a tipsy – as she indicates in a charming little song based on a tune from one of the most popular of Johann II’s ballroom pieces, the Annen Polka.