Emmerrich Kalman
Emmerich Kálmán - Gräfin Mariza
Gundula Janowitz, Noemi Nadelmann, Nelly Boschkowa, Erna Schickel, Adolf Dallapozza, Sándor Németh, Karl Dönch, Rudolf Buczolich, Alfred Böhm
Ballett, Chor und Orchester der Seefestspiele Mörbisch
Zigeunerkapelle: Gergely-Werner Szücs
Dirigent: Uwe Theimer
Inszenierung: Robert Herzl
Seefestspiele Mörbisch 1987
Gräfin Mariza (Countess Maritza) is an operetta in three acts composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán, with a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. It premiered in Vienna on 28 February 1924 at the Theater an der Wien.
Roles
Countess Mariza soprano
Prince Populescu baritone
Baron Kolomán Zsupán, landowner of Varaždin tenor
Count Tassilo of Endrödy-Wittemburg tenor
Lisa, Tassilo's sister soprano
Karl Stefan Liebenberg bass
Princess Božena Guddenstein zu Clumetz contralto
Penižek, her valet
Tschekko, an old butler of Mariza's
Berko, a gypsy
Manja, a young gypsy soprano
Kálmán Imre : Marica grófnő - Budapesti Operettszínház 2001
Marica grófnő - Sáfár Mónika
Tasziló gróf - Nyári Zoltán
Liza, a húga - Szendy Szilvi
Liebenberg István - Kiss Zoltán
Bozsena grófnő - Lehoczky Zsuzsanna
Dragomir Populescu Moritz herceg - Földes Tamás
Kudelka, Bozsena hercegnő inasa - Dézsy Szabó Gábor
Tschekko, öreg szolga Maricánál - Marik Péter
Manja, cigánylány - Rikker Mária
Synopsis
Place: Hungary: the manor and estate of the Countess Maritza
Time: Around 1920.
Manja the gypsy girl flirts with the newly appointed bailiff, Béla Törek. Unknown to anyone, Törek is in fact the impoverished Count Tassilo, who is seeking to earn a living and set aside some cash for the dowry of his sister Lisa. The Countess Maritza, a young widow, unexpectedly arrives at the estate to celebrate her engagement. This 'engagement' is however quite fictitious, an invention intended to put off her numerous followers. The name she has chosen for her suitor, based on her recollection of Strauss' operetta, The Gypsy Baron, is Baron Koloman Zsupán. However, amongst Maritza's guests, to Tassilo's horror, is Lisa, who he instructs to keep their relationship and his identity strictly secret. Maritza is also embarrassed when a genuine Koloman Zsupán materialises, having seen an announcement of his 'engagement' in the press.
Tassilo is heard by the guests singing an air "Komm, Zigány" ("Come, gypsies!"), which he ends with a czardas. Maritza orders him to repeat it; he refuses, and the angry countess announces that he is fired. Manja predicts that The Countess will be very happy in love. "One moon will pass over this Earth and Maritza will find her happiness", she sings. Maritza therefore decides to remain on her estate. She stops Tassilo from leaving and apologises.
Zsupan has meanwhile decided that he prefers Lisa to Maritza, whilst Maritza is increasingly attracted to Tassilo. However, the ageing Lothario Populescu reveals to Maritza Tassilo's identity, and moreover alleges that Lisa is his girlfriend. Maritza in a high temper insults Tassilo, who declares that he will leave. However, before he goes, the repentant Maritza writes him a 'reference' which is in fact a proposal of marriage. The operetta ends with Maritza and Tassilo, and Zsupan and Lisa, engaged.
Melodies from the operetta 'Countess Maritza' (Gräfin Mariza)
1. Fernsehballett - Ouvertüre
2. Jochen Schäfer - Grüss mir die süssen, die reizenden Frauen im schönen Wien (Vienna Mine)
3. Karin Süss & Christian Bauer - Ich möchte träumen von dir, mein Puzikam (Set the Gipsy Music Playing)
4. Anna Maria Kaufmann & Jochen Schäfer - Sag ja, mein Lieb, sag ja (When I Start Dreaming)
5. Karin Süss - Komm mit nach Varasdin ( Let's Go To Varasdin)
6. Jochen Schäfer - Komm, Zigan, komm, Zigan, spiel mir was vor (Come, gypsies!)
7. Fernsehballett - Zigeunermusik
Emmerich Kálmán (24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian composer of operettas.
Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, then in Austria-Hungary, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, in a Jewish family. Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition instead. He studied music theory and composition at the National Hungarian Royal Academy of Music (then the Budapest Academy of Music), where he was a fellow student of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály under Hans Kössler.
His early symphonic poems Saturnalia and Endre es Johanna were well-received, although he failed to achieve publication. He also composed piano music and wrote many songs: a song cycle on poems by Ludwig Jacobowski and a song collection published under the title Dalai.
However, the popularity of his humorous cabaret songs led him towards the composition of operettas. His first great success was Tatárjárás – Ein Herbstmanöver in German, meaning Autumn maneuver, although the English title is The Gay Hussars, which was first staged at the Lustspieltheater in Budapest, on 22 February 1908. Thereafter he moved to Vienna, where he achieved worldwide fame through his operettas Der Zigeunerprimas, Die Csárdásfürstin, Gräfin Mariza, and Die Zirkusprinzessin.
Kálmán and Franz Lehár were the leading composers of what has been called the "Silver Age" of Viennese operetta during the first quarter of the 20th century. He became well known for his fusion of Viennese waltz with Hungarian csárdás. Even so, polyphonically and melodically, Kálmán was a devoted follower of Giacomo Puccini, while in his orchestration methods he employed principles characteristic of Tchaikovsky's music.
Despite his Jewish origins he was one of Adolf Hitler's favorite composers. After the Anschluss, he rejected Hitler's offer to become an 'honorary Aryan' and was forced to move first to Paris, then to the United States, settling in California in 1940.
Following his emigration, performances of his works were prohibited in Nazi Germany. He emigrated back to Vienna from New York in 1949 before moving in 1951 to Paris, where he died.
Emmerich Kalman
(1882-1953)