About the work
Die schwarze Orchidee is an „opera grottesca“ in three acts by Eugen d’Albert with a libretto by Karl Michael von Levetzow. It premiered on 1 December 1928 at the Neues Theater Leipzig under conductor Gustav Brecher, staged by Walther Brügmann.
Plot
The plot transplants the gangster and nightclub milieu of Prohibition-era New York onto the stage: jewel thief Percy Garnett leaves a self-grown black orchid at every heist. In the skyscraper bar „Mount Everest“ he becomes the rival of secret-service chief Bobby Pinkleton for the affections of Lady Grace.
Cultural significance
D’Albert said he wanted to write the piece „out of a need for cheerfulness,“ mixing jazz elements such as the foxtrot and shimmy into the score; the opera nonetheless remained a marginal work in his output and is still rarely performed.