Richard Heuberger (1850-1914) came from a wealthy, art-loving Graz
(Austria-Hungary) family. After working as an engineer, he decided to
devote himself completely to music, working as choral director of the
Vienna Singakademie, composer of instrumental music, ballets, cantatas and
operas, music critic and music journalist. Shortly before the turn of the
century, he tried his luck with operettas. Only his first work, the
delicately orchestrated, splendidly hued "Opernball" (Opera Ball) of 1898 -
a beautiful and substantial echo of the Strauss era - has managed to
maintain its position in the repertoire. In this work, Heuberger tried to
create a new operetta style, the "comedy operetta". He eschewed spectacular
costumes and choruses, sentimentality and drama by picking up where
Offenbach had left off in "La vie parisienne" and Strauss in "Die
Fledermaus". According to the great Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick,
he succeeded in "preserving the purity of the Viennese operetta. The
'Opernball' was a popular, witty piece and Heuberger accordingly avoided
the effects of grand opera, both noisy passion and watered-down
sentimentality."
