“Mein Herr Marquis“, sometimes called “Adele’s Laughing Song“, is an aria for soprano with choral accompaniment from act 2 of the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II. It appears in many anthologies of music for soprano singers, and is frequently performed in recitals. This opera was inspired by Julius Roderich Benedix’s play ‘The Prison’ and Henri Melihac and Ludovic Halevy’s play ‘Le Reveillon’.
Adele, a chambermaid who has borrowed one of her mistress’s gowns without permission, and gone to a party, also without permission, gets recognised there by her mistress’s husband. She attempts to convince him that he is wrong by laughing scornfully at the idea that a glamorous woman like herself could possibly be a lowly chambermaid.
Gabriel von Eisenstein is going to prison for eight days and his maid Adele asks for a leave of absence to go to Prince Orlofsky’s ball, though her boss believes she is going to visit a sick relative. Eisenstein’s friend Falke wants him to go to the ball too, so he lies to Adele and his wife Rosalinde about exactly what day he will go to prison. The prison’s governor Frank arrives for Eisenstein but instead finds Rosalinde with her lover Alfred, and Alfred goes to prison instead.
The ball is actually an elaborate prank for Falke to humiliate Eisenstein in retaliation for a past incident, and Rosaline, Eisenstein, and Adele are all there in disguise. Rosalinde filches a valuable watch from Eisenstein’s pocket while they flirt, completely aware that he is her husband, and plans to use it as evidence of his infidelity. The next morning, Adele and her sister are thrown in prison, but when Falke reveals his reasons for holding the ball, affairs begin to fall into place. Eisenstein tells Rosalinde that he was too drunk to understand what he was doing and Frank agrees to support Adele’s theatrical ambitions so that she can quit being a maid, but Eisenstein still has to go to jail for eight days.
