We travel around the world
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | We travel around the world |
| Original title: | The great tenor |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Charles Kálmán |
| Libretto : | Willy Werner Göttig |
| Literary source: | “Bon Voyage” by Lili Kálmán |
| Premiere: | January 8, 1955 |
| Place of premiere: | Wiesbaden |
| Place and time of the action: | New York, Paris, Morocco, Vienna, Hamburg around 1955 |
| people | |
|
|
We travel around the world is a revue operetta in two parts (six pictures) by Charles Kálmán . The libretto is by Willy Werner Göttig . It is based on the piece “Bon Voyage” by Lili Kálmán, the composer's sister. The work had its world premiere on January 8, 1955 at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden, at that time under the title “The Great Tenor”.
orchestra
Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, a bass tuba, a harp, a piano, a guitar, large percussion and strings
Stage sets
Photo 1: At the pier in New York Harbor; Photo 2: On the promenade deck of an ocean liner; Photo 3: In the “Pigalle” café in Paris; Photo 4: In the bazaar in Marrakech; Image 5: In a wine tavern in Vienna; Image 6: Hotel lobby in Hamburg
action
Jonny Willoughby, a tobacco planter from the USA who has become a millionaire, travels to Europe on an ocean liner with his wife Betty and daughter Majorie. The voyage is not without ulterior motives because old Willoughby knows that Clarence, the son of his late friend Bill Morton, is also on the ship. Because he has inherited his father's factory, everything should be arranged so that Majorie and Clarence become a couple, so that the family business grows. Clarence is not interested in business, however; his love belongs above all to music. He is friends with the tenor Roberto Vitturoso, for whom he wrote a few chansons especially for him. The two have engaged the shipping company as entertainers for the crossing. Actually Roberto has such a sonorous name that the whole world knows him; but on the ship he works incognito.
When Majorie first hears Roberto's voice, it melts away. During a rendezvous with him, they fall in love. But when Jonny Willoughby gets wind of it, the choleric breaks through in him. Why does his carefully thought-out plan go so wrong?
Clarence Morton heard the voice of the delightful chansonette Germaine Pêcheuse for the first time in the Parisian café “Pigalle” and was enthusiastic about her. She would be the ideal interpreter of his songs. It goes without saying that these two also get closer and ultimately are overwhelmed by love.
Betty Willoughby tries by all means to get her husband to agree to Majory's marriage with the unknown tenor. But only when it turns out that this “unknown” singer is the world-famous and millionaire Roberto Vitturoso, the old Willoughby is inclined to give his daughter the blessing.
Musical highlights
- We travel around the world (theme tune that runs through the entire work)
- When is the one I love coming? (Song of Roberto)
Web links
- Work information on felixblocherben.de , accessed on December 8, 2014.