About the work
Eugen d’Albert set „Flauto solo“, a one-act musical comedy, to a libretto by Hans von Wolzogen. The premiere was conducted by Leo Blech — who two years earlier had also launched d’Albert's „Tiefland“ — on 12 November 1905 at the New German Theatre in Prague.
Plot
Prince Eberhard emulates his model, the Prussian king Frederick II, and wants to promote the arts, so he demands from his conductor Pepusch a "pig canon for six bassoons". His son, Prince Ferdinand, is instead infatuated with Italy and flatly rejects German music, egged on by the scheming Italian flute teacher Emanuele. When the prince sees through his son's intrigue, he orders him to perform the much-mocked "Flauto solo" himself, and Ferdinand comes to appreciate German music after all.
Cultural significance
One of the few comic operas in d’Albert's output, „Flauto solo“ succeeded at the same Prague house that had launched his worldwide hit „Tiefland“ two years earlier, but unlike that work it never secured a lasting place in the international repertoire.