The Dutch girl
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Dutch girl |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Emmerich Kálmán |
| Libretto : | Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach |
| Premiere: | January 20, 1920 |
| Place of premiere: | Johann Strauss Theater , Vienna |
| Place and time of the action: | A German royal court before 1914 and Holland |
| people | |
|
|
The Hollandweibchen is an operetta in three acts by the composer Emmerich Kálmán and the librettists Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach . The first performance took place on January 20, 1920 in the Johann Strauss Theater in Vienna .
action
The action takes place in the period before the First World War at a German royal court and in Holland. Prince Paul von Usingen and Princess Jutta von Sonneburg-Glücksburg were engaged to each other as children. However, the two have not yet met personally. Now both of them are adults and view the matter of their engagement at the time very differently. The princess actually fell in love with the prince. She keeps getting love letters, supposedly from him, and she has also received a picture of him. No wonder she thinks the prince is in love with her too and wants to get married soon. She does not know that the prince knows nothing about all of his alleged love letters and marriage intentions. The letters were written and sent by Udo von Sterzel at the behest of Paul's father. Prince Paul himself has long since suppressed the engagement at the time, as has the existence of Princess Jutta. He leads the life of a playboy and doesn't even think about getting married. At home the family put pressure on him and want to force him to marry Jutta. Paul quickly flees to Holland, where he resumes his usual life as a bon vivant. Meanwhile, efforts are being made in the home to avoid a possible quarrel between the two farms involved because of Paul's absence. Sterzel is commissioned to travel to the princess' court. There he tells of an ailment of the prince. The situation develops differently, however, and a marriage by procura takes place, with Sterzel representing the prince. Sterzel himself falls in love with Jutta's lady-in-waiting, Elly. His bigger problem, however, is how he should teach the people involved, i.e. the princess and Paul, the truth about the wedding by procura. After Jutta found out the truth, she is angry. She determines Paul's whereabouts in Holland and also travels there to teach him a lesson. There she pretends to be a waitress and turns Paul's head. The latter also falls in love with her without, of course, knowing her true identity. Then, as is usual in many operettas, everything dissolves into pleasure. Paul recognizes his princess, with whom he has actually fallen in love, and she in turn forgives him for his previous behavior. The two become a couple, as do Elly and Sterzel.
reception
The operetta was originally a success. It experienced 215 performances in Vienna before it was performed in Berlin in the Metropoltheater. The work has also been performed in Milan and Budapest and even in Australia and the USA . Then it was increasingly forgotten. On the one hand, this was due to the large number of new operetta productions in the 1920s. At that time the works displaced each other from the repertoire. In Germany and, from 1938, also in Austria, Das Hollandweibchen , like all works by Emmerich Kálmán, was banned by the National Socialists. But even after the war, the work did not experience a noteworthy renaissance. At least one record was made (see below), which is now also available on CD and some pieces from the operetta are occasionally performed at concerts.
Sound carrier
A recording with the Great Vienna Radio Orchestra was made in 1950 under the direction of Max Schönherr . The soloists included Gerda Scheyrer , Else Macha, Harry Fuss , Karl Köstler and Kurt Preger . The CD was released on the Line label. The same recording was also released on CD under the label Gala (with English text in the booklet).
Music numbers
The following music numbers can be heard on the complete recording mentioned above, which also correspond to the score:
- Introduction
- Duet: Every girl dreams of one
- March song: There are women to the devil fetch
- Duet: When there is joy in the forest
- Song: The moon laughs at us tonight in the bridal chamber
- Finale I: We greet you with love, young bride
- Choir: Dance of the Dutch women
- Song: I wandered the world happily
- The young lady stood by the blue sea
- Trio: Amsterdam and Rotterdam
- .
- I would never have thought that
- Finale II: You have to become mine
- Musical scene: faraway beloved
- Quartet: should sound enticing
- Finale III (final song): Dutch woman with the bonnet