72, is a comic opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to his own German libretto, described as a Bürgerliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Zwischenspielen (bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes).

[1] The story depicts fictionally the personalities of Strauss himself (as "Robert Storch") and his wife Pauline (as "Christine")[2] and was based on real incidents in their lives.

This is why the libretto is not in verse but in prose and even mimics the dialect used by the servants in the play, against the more polished German of the principals.

The UK premiere was at the Glyndebourne Opera on 15 June 1974 (sung in English), with subsequent productions in 1975 and 1983 (with a BBC Broadcast on 26 August 1983).

[6] Setting: Vienna and Grundlsee during a 1920s winter The composer Storch is leaving for a conducting tour, and his wife Christine helps him pack, arguing and nagging along the way.

The Baron arrives with evidence that Stroh rather than Storch had indeed known the lady and Christine dismisses him, assured that her husband is blameless.