About the work
Donna Juanita is an operetta in three acts by Franz von Suppé, with a libretto by F. Zell (Camillo Walzel) and Richard Genée. Set in the Spanish town of San Sebastián in 1796, it premiered on 21 February 1880 at the Carltheater in Vienna.
Plot
The French officer René is ordered to gather intelligence in British-occupied San Sebastián and disguises himself as the Spanish lady “Donna Juanita” to do so. In this guise he bewitches the British colonel and outwits the corrupt town mayor, while his brother Gaston courts the innkeeper's daughter Petrita. René's ruse allows the French to retake the town without a fight.
Cultural significance
Vienna's contemporary press praised the operetta's elaborate finales, though critics judged it less original than Fatinitza or Boccaccio. In South America, by contrast, Donna Juanita stayed in the repertoire for decades, and in 1932 Maria Jeritza sang the title role in a production at the New York Metropolitan Opera.