Der liebe Augustin by Fall, tors. 09 juni 2022, Fra (2021/2022), Instrueret af Anja Nicklich,, Dirigent Ulrich Kern, Albert Seidl, Gerhart Hauptmann-Theater, Görlitz, Germany

The title character in Leo Fall's Der liebe Augustin has little to do with Marx Augustin, the bagpiper and well-known Viennese drunkard, who cheered his roommates during the plague in the middle of the 17th century with petty songs. The ballad “Oh, you dear Augustin”, dedicated to him, is not sung in the operetta. Augustin Hofer, pianist and piano teacher of Princess Helene at the court of Thessaly for a year, also has very different problems than his popular namesake. The fictional principality is facing bankruptcy. With his hands full, Regent Bogumil throws the money among the people, although he hasn't had anything in the till for a long time. No wonder, then, when at the beginning of the operetta a bailiff knocks loudly on the door and soon sticks one “cuckoo” after the other. Unheard of, the guy doesn't even stop at the piano! Augustin has not yet received his salary either. He is also engaged to the valet's daughter Anna, who doesn't want to hear anything from him. While things are pretty crunching between the two of them, it sounds pretty decent between Augustin and his pupil - and not just on the piano. Leo Falls' operetta Der liebe Augustin, premiered in Berlin in 1912, plays with the conventions of the operetta genre and is a veritable firework of musical ideas and intelligent punchlines. It sparkles with bold jokes, is sometimes touching, sometimes furiously funny. “And the sky is full of violins” or “Where is that written?” Were real hits 100 years ago. A real rediscovery - not only for operetta fans