The princely child
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The princely child |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Franz Lehár |
| Libretto : | Victor Léon |
| Literary source: | Le roi des montagnes , novel by Edmond About |
| Premiere: | October 7, 1909 |
| Place of premiere: | Vienna |
| Place and time of the action: | Greece at the beginning of the 20th century |
| people | |
Basilios, Koltzida, Phalatis, Tamburis, Milotis, Mustakas and Spiro, members of the band of robbers |
|
The Prince's Child is an operetta in two acts with a prelude by Franz Lehár . The libretto is by Victor Léon using a character from the novel Le roi des montagnes by Edmond About . The work had its world premiere on October 7, 1909 in the Johann Strauss Theater in Vienna.
action
The operetta is set in Greece at the beginning of the 20th century. The princely child is the princess Photini. She loves an American officer who wants to track down a notorious criminal. Neither of them know that the criminal is Photini's father Hajji, who leads a double life. The further action takes place around this starting point.
reception
The operetta Das Fürstenkind was composed by Franz Lehár. It was written about the same time as the operetta Der Graf von Luxemburg , which premiered only a little later, on November 12, 1909 . In contrast to this work, however, the prince child could not assert itself on the repertoire of the theater. A new version made in 1932 under the title The Prince of the Mountains was also unsuccessful. Today the operetta is rarely performed as a complete work, if at all.
Publications
Due to the low level of awareness of the operetta, there are few publications. In 1932 Richard Tauber sang the songs Schweig, Zagendes Herz and Freiheit, you are our life (role of Stavros). Franz Schönbaumsfeld led the Odeon artist orchestra. In 1946, Tauber himself sang Silent, hesitant heart again in a recording on the Swiss radio station Beromünster, conducted by Lehár . The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation published a radio version of the operetta in 1967; Max Schönherr conducted the Great Vienna Radio Orchestra . The recording is available on CD. On November 28, 2010, the operetta was performed and recorded at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. Ulf Schirmer directed the Munich Radio Orchestra. The recording was released by the CPO label.
Musical numbers of the operetta
The following music numbers are taken from the booklet of the CD recording of the label CPO mentioned above. The numbers correspond to Lehár's score.
No. 1 trio
No. 2 duet: Papa, I'm in love
No. 3 trio and song: Mother went to sleep
No. 4 Pallikarenlied: Long years, anxious years
No. 5 Finale I.
No. 5 1/2 Entr'act: Robbers March
No. 6 ensemble
No. 7 song: Child be nice and good
No. 8 Duet: I love to serve the ladies
No. 8a Musical scene
No. 9 Ensemble and Duet: If you girl knew how well that does
No. 10 ensemble
No. 11 Finale II
No. 11a Intermezzo (resignation)
No. 12 Quintet: Waltz, who thought you up?
No. 13 Duet: Young and Old
No. 14 melodrama
Trivia
Franz Lehar composed this operetta at the same time as the Count of Luxembourg and Zigeunerliebe . He mistakenly believed that the Prince's Child would be the most successful of the three pieces.