About the work
Operetta in three acts by Oscar Straus, with a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. Because the planned Berlin premiere fell through amid inflation and currency reform, the work premiered instead on 17 November 1923 at Vienna's Theater an der Wien, with Fritzi Massary as Cleopatra and Richard Tauber as Silvius.
Plot
In ancient Alexandria, Queen Cleopatra is bored and has her court astrologer prophesy whose love will bring her the pearl of her life. She tests, in turn, the Syrian prince Beladonis and the young Roman officer Silvius before Marcus Antonius finally appears as the true object of the prophecy. Amid intrigue, disguise and courtly confusion, an ironic love story about power and seduction unfolds.
Cultural significance
The premiere struck a chord shortly after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb and became one of the hits of the season. After the Second World War the operetta's frank content long made it seem risqué and it was performed only in toned-down versions, until Komische Oper Berlin, under Barrie Kosky, rediscovered the original version as a neglected masterpiece.