DIE FLEDERMAUS Bat New Year Silver Coin 5€ Euro Austria 2015

As befits a nation with such a rich musical heritage, classical music plays a vital role in the Austrians' New Year celebrations. The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II is the first song played on the radio after the clock strikes midnight. Another of Strauss's works, the operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) is the theme of this charming 2015 New Year coin. The traditional performance at the Vienna State Opera every New Year's Eve, the operetta is based around a masked ball which is orchestrated as an act of revenge by a character who was humiliated when drunkenly abandoned while dressed as a bat. The bat is shown above the seasonal glass of champagne of Rosalinde, one of the main characters, on the coin's reverse. The nine-sided coin's obverse shows the coats of arms of the nine federal provinces of Austria.