The Bat (Die Fledermaus) —operette in three acts by Johann Strauss Libretto (French) by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy by their vaudeville ‘Le Reveillon’. German translation by Karl Haffner and Richard Genee. The world premiere — April 5, 1874 Wienna, Theater an der Wien. The piano score was did not come out in print in Russia for the last 40 years, the present edition is a rarity. The Bat is one of the most fascinating and brilliant operettas in the entire history of the genre. It was completed and staged in the 1874 and is being performed successfully on both opera and operetta stages ever since. One can hardly believe that on premiere performance it was just coolly accepted and went only 17 times. Only after 100th performance in Berlin the operetta returned to Wienna with triumph. There is simply no other operetta that ignited inspiration of such masters like Gustav Mahler, Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner, Hans Knappertsbusch and Herbert von Karajan. CONTENTSOuvertureACT I No. 1. Introduction No. 2. Terzett (Rosalinde, Eisenstein and Blind) No. 3. Duett (Falke and Eisenstein) No. 4. Терцет (Rosalinde, Falke and Eisenstein) No. 5. Finale а) Drinking song б) Couplet в) TerzettACT II No. 6. Entr’acte and choir No. 7. Orlovsky’s couplet No. 8. Czardash No. 9. Ensemble and Adele’s couplet No. 10. Duett (Rosalinde and Eisenstein) No. 11. Finale BalletACT III No. 12. Entr’acte No. 13. Pantomime No. 14 Terzett (Rosalinde, Alfred and Eisenstein) No. 15. Adele’s couplet No. 16. Finale