Imperial Ball
3. Dec - 6. Dec 2025
CalendarProgrammePodcast
DE
CalendarProgramme
A world premiere by Jacqueline Kornmüller
Milena Michiko Flašar answers the letters of Johann Strauss to Olga Smirnitskaya
With music by Johanna Doderer and Johann Strauss
Little would be known of Strauss’ love for the young composer Olga Smirnitskaya if it were not for his 100 ardent love letters and an extraordinary waltz reflecting their clandestine love affair. From 1856 to 1869, the Russian Railway Company regularly invited Strauss to perform at Pavlovsk, the tsars’ summer residence near St Petersburg. Despite Johann’s ardour, the heady relationship was stymied by Olga’s aristocratic parents, for whom Strauss was merely a penniless Viennese musician.
