Three waltzes
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Three waltzes |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Oscar Straus using melodies by Johann Strauss (father) in the first part and by Johann Strauss (son) in the second part |
| Libretto : | Paul Knepler and Armin Robinson |
| Premiere: | October 5, 1935 |
| Place of premiere: | Zurich |
| Place and time of the action: |
Vienna , part I around 1865, part II around 1900 and part III around 1935 |
| people | |
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In the first part:
In the second part:
In the third part:
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Drei Walzer is a singspiel-like operetta in three parts (twelve pictures) by Oscar Straus . For the first part, the composer used music by Johann Strauss (father) and for the second part melodies by Johann Strauss (son) . The third part is then an original composition by Oscar Straus. The libretto is by Paul Knepler and Armin Robinson . It premiered on October 5, 1935 in Zurich .
action
First part (Vienna 1865)
Fanny Pichler is the star of the ballet at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. Today she is late for rehearsal and therefore attracts the ballet master's wrath. Thanks to her charm, however, she knows how to appease him. During the break she is urged by the theater agent Johann Brunner to finally accept the engagement in Paris and sign the prepared contract. But Fanny prefers to stay in Vienna because her fiancé, First Lieutenant Count Rudolf von Schwarzenegg, is stationed here with the Uhlans. Rudi's noble relatives, however, view the liaison between a nobleman and a commoner, and also one from the theater, with suspicion. But all persuasion to dissuade Rudi from his marriage plans are doomed to failure. The lover even accepts to give up his military career for Fanny's sake.
One day Rudi visits his fiancée in her apartment. Suddenly the two of them hear the Uhlan regiment passing by on the street to the sound of a military sound. Fanny immediately senses from Rudi's reaction that he is passionate about being a soldier and that a connection with him would only bring her long-term bad luck. Now she doesn't want to stand in the way of his career with the Uhlans. She decides to answer the call to the Paris Opera .
Second part (Vienna 1900)
As soon as the last curtain has fallen in the Theater an der Wien at the new operetta premiere, the main actress Charlotte Pichler is enthusiastically received by her fans behind the stage. One of her admirers is Otto von Schwarzenegg, about whose father she has heard a lot from her mother. It seems like love at first sight for both of them. Charlotte therefore does not need to be persuaded for long to accompany the Count to a premiere after-party in the house of Baron Liebinger. Otto has recently had a relationship with his wife, and he now intends to end it. In the course of the evening the baroness notices that her lover has a new flame and makes a scene for him. Otto then secretly leaves the party with Charlotte. You want to end the day in a private room in the Hotel Sacher, where Otto is a regular guest and has already spent many a wonderful hour with one of the ladies of his heart.
The next day, Baroness Liebinger unexpectedly intrudes into Charlotte's theater dressing room and blackens her ex-girlfriends to be a Casanova who is well known in the city and who knows how to turn the heads of all beautiful ladies. He assures everyone that she is his only one!
Confronted by Charlotte, Otto admits a few of his weaknesses, but emphasizes that this is now the end; because she, Charlotte, is now the only one to whom his heart belongs. Now Charlotte realizes that the baroness was right and gives Otto the passport.
Third part (Vienna 1935)
The life of the legendary dancer Fanny Pichler is to be filmed - with her granddaughter Franzi Jensen-Pichler in the lead role. For this, the now very old former theater agent and later impresario Johann Brunner wrote the script. He is the only contemporary witness who has known the protagonist personally. The first scene is about to be shot when the news bursts in that the actor who was supposed to play Rudi von Schwarzenegg has given back his role. But it gets worse: Rudi's grandson Ferdinand got wind of the filming. Angrily, he went to the producer Lindtheim and forbade himself to mention the names of those "von Schwarzenegg" in the film. His theatrical appearance gives Lindtheim the idea to fill him with the orphaned role for a good fee. Because the once proud von Schwarzenegg family now belong to the impoverished nobility, Ferdinand is happy to accept after initial hesitation.
At first, Franzi does not want to get used to the idea of having one of Schwarzenegg's partners. She remembers too much how his ancestors harmed her mother and grandma. It doesn't take long, however, and the two get along wonderfully.
At the premiere of the film, Brunner was horrified to find that the film's script had been altered by force in some cases. Where it was based on the historical truth, the people from the film garnished the strip with a happy ending, because they expect more viewers and thus higher income from it. But when he sees the two main characters lying happily in each other's arms after the credits, he is reconciled with himself and the world.
music
Each of the three parts contains - true to the title of the operetta - a large-scale waltz as a musical highlight: Vienna is a love song , sung by Fanny and Rudi, I love life , put in the mouths of the characters Charlotte and Otto, and finally that soulful title When saying goodbye to the couple Franzi and Ferdinand when they say goodbye .
filming
The operetta was filmed in 1938 by the French production company Sofror under the title Les trois valses . Directed by Ludwig Berger , Yvonne Printemps , Pierre Fresnay , Henri Guisol, Jean Perier and France Ellys played the leading roles. In German-speaking countries, the film was first released in cinemas on February 16, 1951 in a dubbed version entitled Three Waltz . The lexicon of international films says: “Three love stories in three generations. In 1867 a young woman renounced her lover in order not to endanger his career; In 1900 her daughter's love failed because she did not want to give up her stage career; and it was not until 1939 that the granddaughter found the man of life in a descendant of the family from which the lovers of mother and grandmother came. A film located somewhere between romance and subtle irony, with which Ludwig Berger [...] further developed his ideas of the music film after his emigration from Germany. "
literature
- Anton Würz : Reclam's operetta guide . 23rd edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-010512-9 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Lexicon of International Films. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1987, pp. 741-742.