Der lustige Krieg, Bregenz Festival
By Larry L Lash [Financial Times, 12 August 2005]
With operetta an endangered species, thanks are due to the Bregenz Festival for dusting-off Johann Strauss’s big hit of 1881, _Der lustige Krieg_. Written seven years after _Die Fledermaus_ and forgotten by the intrusion of the 20th century, it shows Strauss as tuneful as ever, but abandoning the strict “numbers” approach to operetta and developing a more sophisticated compositional style.