Emmerich Kálmán was born in Siófok, Hungary, on October 24, 1882. He
studied composition in Budapest. In 1904 one of his symphonic
compositions was performed by the Budapest Philharmonic, and in 1907 he
received the Imperial Composition Prize. After settling in Vienna he
abandoned serious composition for light music. From this time on he
devoted himself to and distinguished himself in writing tuneful
operettas. His first success came in 1909 with _Ein Herbstmanoever_,
presented in New York as _The Gay Hussars_. Subsequent operettas made
him one of Europe’s leading composers for the popular theaters. The most
famous are: _Sari_ (1912), _The Gypsy Princess_ (1915), _Countess
Maritza_ (1924) and _The Circus Princess_ (1926). In 1938 he left
Vienna, and after a period in Paris, he came to the United States where
he remained until 1949. He completed his last operetta, _The Arizona
Lady_, a few days before his death in Paris, on October 30, 1953; it was
presented posthumously in Berne, Switzerland, in 1954.
Kálmán’s forte in writing music for operettas was in combining the
charm, _Gemuetlichkeit_ and sentiment of Viennese music in general, and
the Viennese waltz in particular, with the hot blood and sensual moods
of Hungarian gypsy songs and dances.
_The Circus Princess_ (_Die Zirkusprinzessin_)—first performed in Vienna
in 1926, and in New York in 1927—was set in St. Petersburg and Vienna
during the period immediately preceding World War I. When Fedora rejects
the love of Prince Sergius by insisting she would sooner marry a circus
performer, he seeks revenge by engaging a famous circus performer to
pose as a member of nobility and woo and win Fedora. After their
marriage, Fedora discovers the true identity of her husband, and leaves
him. But she soon comes to the realization she is really in love with
him and promises to come back if he in turn offers to give up his
profession—a profession she now despises not from snobbery but because
of fears for his safety. Two delightful waltz melodies—“_Leise schwebt
das Glueck vorueber_” “_Im Boudoir der schoensten Frau_”—and an
intriguing little melody that recurs throughout the operetta, “_Zwei
maerchenaugen_” are the principal selections from this operetta.
_Countess Maritza_ (_Die Graefin Mariza_) is Kálmán’s most popular and
successful operetta. It was first produced in Vienna in 1924, and in New
York in 1926. The setting is Hungary in 1922. An impoverished count,
Tassilo, finds employment on the estate of Countess Maritza under the
assumed name of Torok. He falls in love with her, but when she learns of
his real background she feels he is a fortune hunter interested only in
her wealth. About to leave the employ of the countess and to bid her
permanent farewell, Tassilo’s fortune suddenly takes a turn for the
better when his aunt, a Princess, comes to inform him that Tassilo is a
wealthy man after all, due to her manipulations of his tangled business
affairs. Now convinced that he loves her for herself alone, the Countess
Maritza is only too happy to accept him as her husband.
This score contains some of Kálmán’s finest and most beguiling music in
a Hungarian-gypsy style. The most famous song is in this sensual,
heart-warming idiom: “Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies” (“_Komm Zigan, Komm
Zigan, spiel mir was vor_”). This number begins with a languorous,
romantic melody that soon lapses into a dynamic Hungarian-gypsy dance.
Austrian waltz-music in a more sentimental manner is found in three
winning songs: “Give My Regards to the Lovely Ladies of Fair Vienna”
(“_Gruess mir die reizenden Frauen im schoenen Wien_”), “I Would Like to
Dance Once More” (“_Einmal moecht’ ich wieder tanzen_”) and “Say, Yes!”
(“_Sag ja, mein Lieb_”).
_The Gypsy Princess_ (_Die Csárdásfuerstin_) was first performed in
Vienna in 1915, and produced in New York in 1917 under the title of _The
Riviera Girl_. The heroine is Sylvia Varescu, a performer in a Budapest
cabaret, who is loved and pursued by Prince Edwin. But the Prince’s
father insists that he marry the Countess Stasi. Eventually the father’s
heart is softened and he becomes more tolerant towards having Sylvia as
a daughter-in-law when he is discreetly reminded that once he, too, had
been in love with a cabaret singer. The principal selections from his
score include two soaring waltz melodies: “_Machen wir’s den Schwalben
nach_” and “_Tausend kleine Engel singen hab mich lieb_.” The score also
includes a dynamic Czardas, and a pleasing little tune in “_Ganz ohne
Weiber geht die Chose nicht_.”
_Sari_ was introduced in New York in 1914. Pali is a gypsy violinist who
has grown old and is eclipsed at one of his own concerts by his son,
Laczi. Pali throws his beloved Stradivarius into the flames. Since both
father and son have fallen in love with the same girl, the older man
also renounces her. He wants Laczi to have her as well as his musical
success. A bountiful score includes such delights as “Love Has Wings,”
“Love’s Own Sweet Song,” “My Faithful Stradivari,” and “Softly Through
the Summer Night.”