It explores the subject of the intersection of social class and illicit sexual relations in late 19th-century Sweden.
Rorem revised the score and shortened it to a single act in 1978; this version lasts 90 minutes and was first performed that same year by the New York Lyric Opera.
[1][3] The one-act version underwent further slight revisions and was produced again in 1994 by the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theatre.
[6] The orchestra consists of: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, 2 additional percussion players (xylophone, slapstick, gong, triangle, vibraphone, tambourine, cymbals, tenor drum, glockenspiel, castanets, chimes, suspended cymbal, bongos), guitar, harp, strings.
[3][7] Miss Julie, the jaded daughter of the Count, orders her fiancé Niels to kiss her boot.