Postscript to Strauss, Die Fledermaus n11, Act II finale

The five parts of the Act II finale are (1) Orlofsky's toast to champagne--which we discussed in the previous post; (2) a comic exchange between Frank and Eisenstein; (3) Falke's waltz-song "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein," which leads into the "Du und Du" waltz; (4) ballet (handled in various ways in different productions); and (5) Prince Orlofsky's call to dance "Stellt Euch zum Tanz" and the dance itself "Ha, welch ein Fest, welche Nacht voll Freud!"

In the last of these, Strauss shows one of the strong tendencies in his later waltzes: toward 32-bar units, either by "stretching out" double periods or sentences (making them 16 + 16 rather than 8 + 8), or--as here--by so closely linking two 16-bar strains that they make a single musical unit:

There are no ascending cadence gestures in this extended and exhilarating waltz, but it doesn't have the last word in the Act II finale, as the proceedings come to a halt on a resounding cadential dominant -- see the beginning of the example below -- and everyone offers up a last salute to champagne by repeating the music for the Prince's toast. In the process the choral sopranos mark out the essential elements of the voice leading for the tune that Rosalinde—along with Orlofsky, Adele, and her sister—sings in a register that makes its yodeling topic even more obvious than it was earlier.

The orchestra, then, goes loudly to it one more time, stretching ^6 over IV and ^7 over V to two bars each and then beating on ^8 for no less than nine bars.