Elisabeth II.

Recording from the Burgtheater 2003

Queen Elizabeth II. in Vienna: To welcome her and cheer her on as she drives along the Ring, representatives of Vienna’s high society gather at the home of the industrial magnate Rudolf Herrenstein in his stately turn-of-the-century palace on the Opernring: the Countesses Ergens and Gudenus, the Weisweilers and Winterhalters, Count Neutz, the Bartensteins, and the Guggenheims. It turns out to be a dreadful day for the ailing, half-blind industrial magnate Rudolf Herrenstein, who has a wooden leg. He cannot turn the guests away—courtesy demands it—and besides, his company director, Holzinger, is coming for business at 11 a.m., the Queen of England arrives at noon, and at 3 p.m. he must attend a funeral. He, who for years has tolerated only his housekeeper, Miss Zallinger, and his valet, Richard, is virtually overwhelmed by over forty guests. And he has other problems to solve. Richard, without whom he is completely helpless, wants to leave him—or so he believes. How could he keep Richard by his side forever? Herrenstein must also decide today whether to go to “that Nazi nest, Altaussee” for a summer retreat, or to the Semmering, the “philosophical region,” where socialism has “let everything go to ruin,” or whether to flee to the Carpathians after all. Just then, the queen arrives. Everyone rushes to the third-floor balcony, except Richard and Herrenstein. Is it a coincidence that the balcony collapses—with all the guests on it?