<P> The setting is Sweden , around the year 1900 . One by one , the Quintet -- five singers who comment like a Greek chorus throughout the show -- enter , tuning up . Gradually , their vocalizing becomes an overture blending fragments of `` Remember '' , `` Soon '' and `` The Glamorous Life '' , leading into the first `` Night Waltz '' . The other characters enter waltzing , each uncomfortable with their particular partner . After they drift back off , the aging and severe Madame Armfeldt and her solemn granddaughter , Fredrika , enter . Madame Armfeldt tells the child that the summer night `` smiles '' three times : first on the young , second on fools , and third on the old . Fredrika vows to watch the smiles occur . Middle - aged Fredrik Egerman is a successful lawyer . He has recently married an 18 - year - old trophy wife , Anne , a vain girl who is in love with Fredrik , but too immature to grasp the concept of marriage . The two have been married for eleven months , but Anne still protects her virginity . Fredrik laments his inability to make love to his wife ( `` Now '' ) . Meanwhile , his son Henrik , a year older than his stepmother , is feeling extremely frustrated . He is a seminary student and everyone is always teasing him , never taking him seriously or letting him talk ( `` Later '' ) . Anne is intrigued by him , but fails to understand his real meaning . Anne promises her husband that shortly she will consent to have sex ( `` Soon '' ) . Anne 's maidservant Petra , an experienced and forthright girl , slightly older than the teen herself , offers her worldly but crass advice . </P>
<P> The setting is Sweden , around the year 1900 . One by one , the Quintet -- five singers who comment like a Greek chorus throughout the show -- enter , tuning up . Gradually , their vocalizing becomes an overture blending fragments of `` Remember '' , `` Soon '' and `` The Glamorous Life '' , leading into the first `` Night Waltz '' . The other characters enter waltzing , each uncomfortable with their particular partner . After they drift back off , the aging and severe Madame Armfeldt and her solemn granddaughter , Fredrika , enter . Madame Armfeldt tells the child that the summer night `` smiles '' three times : first on the young , second on fools , and third on the old . Fredrika vows to watch the smiles occur . Middle - aged Fredrik Egerman is a successful lawyer . He has recently married an 18 - year - old trophy wife , Anne , a vain girl who is in love with Fredrik , but too immature to grasp the concept of marriage . The two have been married for eleven months , but Anne still protects her virginity . Fredrik laments his inability to make love to his wife ( `` Now '' ) . Meanwhile , his son Henrik , a year older than his stepmother , is feeling extremely frustrated . He is a seminary student and everyone is always teasing him , never taking him seriously or letting him talk ( `` Later '' ) . Anne is intrigued by him , but fails to understand his real meaning . Anne promises her husband that shortly she will consent to have sex ( `` Soon '' ) . Anne 's maidservant Petra , an experienced and forthright girl , slightly older than the teen herself , offers her worldly but crass advice . </P>
in which country was a little night music set
in which country was a little night music set
Sweden
Sweden