After a dreary time of many sad news comes December with a full moon in a clear sky and operetta: Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss the Younger. For once an operetta that was bubbly and light as a feather in Finland, but then it was a foreign production originally, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli. It was set a few decades later than the date of composition (1874), which didn't disturb - unless one started to calculate too exactly and arrive in the early 1930s. Neither did the confusion of languages disturb, although sometimes when one's ears were tuned to German and eyes directed to the surtitles, it took a while to take in what was being spoken in Finnish. It was fun to watch, and in the third act there were even bits that were genuinely if not outrageously funny.

As so often, I was in a rotten mood going, but felt much better coming home.