Puccini La rondine

Magda, a kept woman and heroine of La rondine, entertains a dream of flying like a swallow from her superficial life in mundane Paris across a vast sea, towards the sun and true love. The work was commissioned as an operetta by the Vienna Carltheater but the First World War prevented a production. In the end, the world premiere took place in 1917, in Monte Carlo. The authors were Alfred Maria Willner – who had written two libretti for Franz Lehár – and Hans Reichert. This explains why much of the subject matter resembles Lehár’s stories, but also Die Fledermaus, and most evidently, La traviata. Puccini, however, never intended to write a Viennese operetta. If anything, he wanted to follow Richard Strauss, not Johann. And thus, one of the most memorable elements of his music is the perfumed, sentimental and melancholic waltz. But he also made use of fashionable American dances which were conquering Europe at the time, such as the fox-trot or one-step. These elements tie up La rondine with another famous opera that was premiered at our theatre and which we also present during the 2024/25 season: Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.