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A Sloppy Piece of Work? This is how Franz Lehár described what was certainly his most successful work after The Merry Widow immediately after it's composition. Today we know, however, that this was a gross misjudgment. Or if it was sloppy, then sloppy in a genial way. It bubbles over with catchy melodies, and dramaturgically it is in any case certainly the master's finest operetta: Der Graf von Luxemburg (The Count of Luxembourg). When the theater next-door to cpo in Osnabrück had the Graf on it's program in 2011, it soon became clear that a stellar moment was involved here. The decision was quickly made to use this wonderful occasion for a production. The review of the operetta's premiere in Opernwelt shortly thereafter confirmed our decision: "The conductor Daniel Inbal passionately and elegantly brings out Lehár's intimate salon tone with the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra, whose members play with the highest animation, carefully also in the postludes and transitional pieces, with what almost might be termed a fine operetta-philological feel. [...] One feels empathy and great seriousness in the discerning treatment of the subject matter. Marco Vassalli, who is the spitting image of the young Johannes Heesters, fulfills the title hero's nonchalance requirement."