The land of smiles
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The land of smiles |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Franz Lehár |
| Libretto : | Ludwig Herzer, Fritz Löhner-Beda and Victor Léon |
| Premiere: | October 10, 1929 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 hours 15 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | Vienna and Beijing, 1912 |
| people | |
|
|
The Land of Smiles is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár . The text is by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner-Beda based on a template by Victor Léon . At first the play was called The Yellow Jacket . The play takes place in Vienna and Beijing in 1912.
The first performance of the piece under the title The Yellow Jacket took place on February 9, 1923 in Vienna; It was first performed on October 10, 1929 in the Berlin Metropol Theater under the title Land of Smiles .
orchestra
Two flutes (2nd also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , saxophone , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , a harp , celesta , large percussion and strings ; Incidental music : violin , violoncello and piano ; 2 piccolo flutes , 4 Aida trumpets , bass drum , snare drum , military drum, cymbals , tam-tam , glockenspiel .
action
Lisa, the spoiled daughter of Count Lichtenfels, falls in love with the Chinese Prince Sou-Chong at a party in her father's house. She is very impressed by his restrained passion, combined with the exotic aura of his appearance. Prince Sou-Chong reciprocates her feelings, and contrary to her father's warnings, she follows her love for China. In China, however, the couple in love will soon be thrown back to the ground of social reality. They become more and more aware of the incompatibility of their characters. Lisa's former admirer, Count Gustav von Pottenstein (called Gustl), who followed her to China, gives her consolation. Sou-Chong is asked by his strict uncle, as is an old custom, to marry four Manchu girls. As he follows this tradition, he plunges Lisa into deep despair. Driven by the longing for her previous life, she then plans to flee the palace together with Gustl. Sou-Chong thwarts her plan, but he realizes that he cannot hold Lisa and lets her go with a sad smile.
reception
The Land of Smiles is the most successful operetta after Lehár's Merry Widow . It was well received by the audience from the start and is still performed in many theaters today. The work belongs to the last creative phase of the composer and has operatic features. The plot and music are more dramatic than in the composer's early works and there is no happy ending . In this work, which Lehár called the Romantic Operetta, some songs were again specially tailored to the great tenor Richard Tauber. In a way, the work occupies a special position in Lehár's oeuvre because it was the composer's only permanently successful remake . Over the years he has tried again and again to breathe new life into some unsuccessful operettas by reworking them and giving them a new title. With Schön ist die Welt (a remake of the operetta Endlich alone ) he achieved a temporary, but not permanent, success. All other attempts of this kind failed. Only the Land of Smiles made the big breakthrough as a revision of the Yellow Jacket .
Musical numbers of the operetta
From this operetta comes the famous tenor song “ Your is my whole heart ”, which became world famous through interpretations by Richard Tauber .
The piano reduction by Glockenverlag Vienna (original edition by the composer) contains the following music numbers:
Overture
No. 1: She should live high Introduction and entree (Lisa, Gustl and choir):
No. 1 1 ⁄ 2 : Ah, Ah little song (Lisa)
No. 2: Freunderl doesn't care (duet: Lisa, Gustl)
No. 3: Always smile (song: Sou-Chong)
No. 4: With a tea a deux (duet: Lisa, Sou-Chong)
No. 5: A wreath of apple blossoms (song Sou-Chong)
No. 6: Finale I We are alone (scene: Lisa, Sou-Chong)
No. 7: Prelude to Act 2 (orchestra)
No. 7 1 ⁄ 2 : Introduction and appearance Sou-Chong
No. 8: Who has love in our hearts lowered (duet: Lisa, Sou-Chong)
No. 9: In the salon of the blue pagoda (dance song: Wed)
No. 10: My love, your love (duet: Wed, Gustl)
No. 11: Yours is my whole Heart (song: Sou-Chong)
No. 12: I want to see my home again (song: Lisa)
No. 12 1 ⁄ 2 : Chinese wedding procession (Lisa, Tschang, Sou-Chong, other participants in the wedding procession)
No. 13 : Finale II With what right (Lisa, Sou-Chong)
No. 14: Fairy tale of happiness (Song: Lisa and slaves)
No. 15: Zig, zig, zig… Who n the chrysanthemums bloom (duet: Wed, Gustl)
No. 15 1 ⁄ 2 : How quickly withered (reminiscence: Wed)
No. 16: Finale III The same sun (Lisa, Wed, Sou-Chong, Gustl)
For numbers 7 and 7 1 ⁄ 2 , the composer has offered even more pompous versions for the opening of Act 2 and the theaters are free to choose between the versions. The more pompous variant should come from the original work The Yellow Jacket .
History of origin
The idea for the plot of the Yellow Jacket came from Lizzy Léon, who also wrote the manuscript. Her father Viktor Léon took it over for ten percent of the royalties incurred. The manuscript envisaged a maharajah as the main actor. The Chinese prince Sukong introduced Léon to the Chinese customs of the time. Instead of a maharajah, he made a Chinese prince named Sou-Chong the leading actor and gave the operetta the title The Yellow Jacket, corresponding to the ceremony in which a prime minister was dressed in a yellow jacket. Léon's wife Ottilie wrote the lyrics to Sou-Chong's performance song Always Smile . The yellow jacket differs from Land of Smiles in that the prince in the previous play is unwilling to renounce his love and renounces his intended wives and political responsibility and instead marries Lisa. According to Lehár, who later defended it, this marital union caused "alienation" in some people.
Hubert Marischka was the first Prince Sou-Chong. The yellow jacket wasn't a great success. The authors Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner-Beda were entrusted with the revision of the operetta for Richard Tauber. Löhner-Beda moved the passage
"Fragrance pours out of your hair and your skin is like perfume ..."
from the first to the second act and wrote the lyrics instead
"Yours is my whole heart, where you are not, I cannot be ..."
Composer Lehár also changed large parts of the music. In Spain the operetta was called El pais de la sonrisa . Léon chose the translation The Land of Smiles as the new title.
Differences to the yellow jacket
The yellow jacket differs in many ways from its later remake . In the previous section the song Your is my whole heart was mentioned, the text of which was changed and the placement in the piece was made more favorable. On pages 96 and 97 of his Lehár biography, Norbert Linke pointed out some further differences and similarities. It starts with the people. The Lisa in the Land of Smiles is the first version still Lea and Gustl was then called Claudius . Fashion dances like shimmy and foxtrot were not carried over to the land of smiles from the original . These did not fit into the operatic style of the new version. The following songs were taken from the original: Freunderl don't mind , Always smile , When the chrysanthemums are in bloom and From apple blossoms a wreath . The duet It hangs the sky full of violins from the yellow jacket has been rewritten and moved from No. 14 (old) to No. 4 in the score. It has been called a deux for tea ever since . New compositions in the land of smiles are u. a. the duet Who put love in our hearts and the song fairy tale of happiness . Some of the finales and choirs taken from the original have been significantly shortened. In addition, the original storyline ended with a happy ending .
Sound carrier
In the course of the decades numerous recordings of the work have been made on record or CD. Just two examples are mentioned here:
- In 1967 a recording was made with the Graunke Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Choir. Willy Mattes was in charge of overall management . Anneliese Rothenberger , Nicolai Gedda , Renate Holm , Harry Friedauer and Jobst Moeller performed as soloists . In 2012 this recording was released on CD under the Cologne Collection label .
- In 2006 a recording was made with the Munich Radio Orchestra and again with the Bavarian Radio Choir. Ulf Schirmer was in charge of overall management . Contributors were: Camilla Nylund , Julia Bauer, Piotr Beczala , Alexander Kaimbacher , Alfred Berg and Theodor Weimer. The CD was released on the CPO label .
Film adaptations
- The first film version of the operetta was 1930. Directed by Max Reichmann played Richard Tauber , Mary Losseff and Margit Suchy the leading roles. It was the first international success of the German sound film .
- In 1952 the work was filmed in color by Berolina. The couple Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura played the leading roles under the direction of Hans Deppe and Erik Ode . It was their last film together. Walter Müller and Paul Hörbiger played other leading roles . Lehár's music could only be heard in an arrangement by Alois Melichar . See The Land of Smiles (1952) .
- In 1961 there was a television adaptation with Gerhard Riedmann (sung by Fritz Wunderlich ) and Ernst Stankovski as Gustl.
- 1974 a TV version with René Kollo (Sou-Chong), Birgit Sarata (Lisa), Dagmar Koller (Mi) and Heinz Zednik (Gustl), conductor: Wolfgang Ebert , director: Arthur Maria Rabenalt .
literature
- Norbert Linke : Franz Lehár . P. 96ff
Web links
- Content and data from the program booklet on the occasion of a production by BR ( Memento from December 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- From the hit list of the NDR ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- The land of smiles in the operetta dictionary
Remarks
- ↑ Information on the genesis according to Franz Zwetschi Marischka: Always only smile , Vienna, Munich 2001, pp. 77–80.