Die Göttin der Vernunft (“The Goddess of Reason”) was Johann Strauss’s last completed operetta, produced in 1897, when he was 71. It achieved only a short run. Discovery of the original performing material by conductor Christian Pollack in the archives of the Theater an der Wien prompted the concert performances in ilina, Slovakia, in December 2009 which are preserved in this recording. The operetta’s history is interesting in that, having committed to it before the book was completed, Strauss became disenchanted and composed only under threat of legal action if he didn’t. After his death, libretto and score were formally separated, the music being reset to a new text as Reiche Mädchen (“Rich Girls”, 1909). It has long been stated that the book was likewise reworked into Franz Lehár’s Der Graf von Luxemburg (“The Count of Luxembourg”, 1909), though any similarity is distinctly hard to find. The setting here is the French city of Châlons at the time of the French Revolution and Robespierre’s Reign of Terror, and the plot revolves around the Goddess of Reason, centrepiece of a festival in November 1793 designed to promote the atheistic Cult of Reason.

Perhaps largely because of its unhappy history, posterity has rather dismissed the operetta. However, this recording suggests that to be highly unfair. Though it may lack the lyrical development and individual atmosphere of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Eine Nacht in Venedig and Der Zigeunerbaron, its score is melodically livelier than those of other late Strauss operettas rediscovered through Naxos recordings – Jabuka and Fürstin Ninetta. Featuring military personnel and prominent march numbers, the score indeed has something of the character of Suppé’s Fatinitza, also recently recorded by CPO (11/07).

The performance is an excellent one, Pollack conducting in spirited fashion, with soprano Veronika Groiss and tenors Manfred Equiluz and Franz Födinger outstanding among the soloists. There’s audience applause at the end of Acts 1 and 3 but curiously not at the end of Act 2. Though there’s no dialogue, the accompanying booklet has highly informative notes and synopsis. That such a rarity can be rescued from oblivion to such high standard at Naxos prices is quite astonishing.