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Johann Strauß (Sohn) Operetta "Die Fledermaus" and censorship
Johann Strauß jun.

During the first rehearsals of the Fledermaus the libretto was submitted to the censor’s office, still under the title „Dr.Fledermaus“. Various political texts had to be altered. The k.k. (imperial and royal) censorship prohibited allusions to the crash of the stock exchange and the resulting disastrous economic consequences.

Original libretto 

Eisenstein (in the „watch duet“ of act 2):
To outwit me she must be very shrewd –
Like a Communist she does not know what is mine and thine.

Censored alteration

Now my trap has not succeeded,
She and my watch have really got away.
Though this joke has cost me truly,
I can’t blame myself unduly.
 
 

Viennese high society at the time of the first performance   


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