The plot of Ball at the Savoy is a classic operetta caper. Count Aristide de Faublas, just back from his honeymoon, sneaks off to a ball where he has a rendez-vous with an old flame. His wife, Madeleine, discovers his plan. She gets her revenge by attending the same ball in disguise.

Ball at the Savoy

In 1930, an operetta called Viktoria und ihr  Husar (Victoria and her Hussar), which had enjoyed some success in Budapest, was performed in Berlin.  It was a huge success, eventually playing in 300 theaters all over Europe.  The German public had never heard anything like it.  Its composer, Paul Ábrahám, classically trained but endlessly inventive and adaptable, had invented the jazz operetta.Jazz, with its syncopation, its distinctive harmonies, and its exotic instrumentation, had become all the rage in Weimar Germany and especially in Berlin.  Abrahám’s catchy melodies were scored for an orchestra augmented by a jazz band, including steel guitar, piano, drum set, guitar, and banjo. Within months of his arrival in Berlin, Abrahám was a wealthy man.  He bought a rococo-style villa in Berlin, where he gave legendary parties that were attended by the cream of Berlin society.  At the same time, he continued to work at a frenetic pace, composing and conducting operettas and film scores.  His next operetta, Die Blume von Hawaii (The Flower of Hawaii, 1931), was an even bigger success. At the same time, of course, a storm was brewing. Abrahám was harassed by Nazis as he went about his work in the film studio.  His days in Berlin were numbered. For his next operetta, Ball im Savoy (Ball at the Savoy), Abraham once again collaborated with Fritz Löhner-Beda and Alfred Grünwald, the leading librettists of the time. It was the same team that had created Viktoria und ihr Husar and  Die Blume von Hawaii. The plot is strongly reminiscent of Die Fledermaus: when a married man lies to his wife so that he can go to a ball without her, she takes her revenge by attending the same ball in disguise. Watch out for our recording on the Naxos Label which comes out the Summer of 2021.