The origin of merry widow

On April 3th, 187, a superstar who will shine in the history of operetta was born in Komarno, a Hungarian town, which was then the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and belonged to lovakia. Three years before his birth, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was just formed. Three months after his birth, Prussia led by Bismarck defeated France and organized a powerful German Empire, which stood with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is 67, square kilometers, and the territory of the German Empire is 54, square kilometers. There is not much difference in national strength, so no one will let anyone, which is somewhat similar to the Kuomintang in Taiwan Province and Democratic Progressive Party.

Austria, led by Habsburg dynasty, dominated the Holy Roman Empire before it was dissolved for a long time, with first-class political skills. In 184, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved under the leadership of Napoleon, but given the title of Austrian Empire, it can be seen that Austria's national strength is strong, and it is only then that it has the strength to require the neighboring kingdoms to merge to form the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and still absolute monarch. The German Empire is pure in race and everyone has the same goal.

Kemano, born by Franz Lehar 187-1948), is 1 kilometers away from Budapest, the capital of Hungary. When it flows through the Danube River in the center of Budapest, it meets the River Vah. Franz has seen the blue Danube every day since he was a child, and he may also know that if he goes north by boat, he will reach the holy city of Vienna in their mind. His father was the captain of a military band in the Royal 5th Infantry Regiment in Kemano. Franz, the eldest son of the family, was deeply loved by the family. He received strict music training since he was a child. It is natural to know that there is a little John Strauss in Vienna who is admired all over the world.

Franz was well trained all the way. He graduated from Praque Conservatory at the age of 19, and then joined the orchestra hosted by his father in Vienna as his father's deputy.

in p>192, he became the permanent conductor of the famous Theater an der Wien, and in November of that year, he released the first operetta debut "Wiener Frauen", which was famous in the music world.

The most important condition for a operetta composer is of course the ability to compose music, which is not a problem for Franz. His most famous orchestral work, the waltz of Gold und Silber (Walzer), It is a famous song composed for the "Gold und Silber Ball" hosted by Princess Metternich in January, 192, and it is still widely loved. Before the release of "Ladies of Vienna", he had already published the operetta experiment of "Kukuschka" at the age of 26 in 1896. Public performances in Leipzig and Budapest have not received enthusiastic response. It can be said that he has not succeeded because he lacks a good script as a partner. Therefore, it is urgent for Franz to find excellent playwrights to cooperate. Johann Strauss Jr., who ranked first in Vienna, also wrote many operettas before and after the release of his masterpiece Die Fledermaus 1874, and all failed for this reason, which shows how important a good script is to composers.

Just after The Ladies of Vienna, Franz immediately released Der Rastelbinder, and next year (194), Goettergatte and Juxheirat were released, but they were soon forgotten.

Franz suffered repeated setbacks, but he didn't lose his fighting spirit. He kept trying to find opportunities. He published in 1861 from the French comedy "embassy attache" (L 'Attach d 'Ambassade; Inspired by The Ambassador's Attache). Attaché is the work of Henri Meilhac 1831-1897), a French playwright, and he is the famous Bizet (1838-1875), Masnet (1842-1912) and Offenbach (1819-188). The comedy story of the plot "A Wealthy Widow Hanna Glawari Seeking a Second Spring" of the Embassy Attaché inspired the creation of two Vienna playwrights, Leo Stein 1872-1947) and Viktor Leon 186-194), as the best theme for creating Vienna operetta. They changed the name of the new play to merry widow in German.

The ideal composer in Stein's and Leon's mind at that time was Richard Heuberger 185-1914), who wrote the Opera Ball (1897). However, since the Opera Ball, Heberger hasn't made any new works, and the sample of merry widow that he submitted at the request of the two shows that he has no ability to undertake the merry widow. At that time, Stein and Leon already knew Franz, but they dared not entrust him with the task of composing music. Moreover, the only work that can prove Franz's ability to create waltzes is the aforementioned waltz of Gold and Silver. Fortunately, there was another person who appreciated Franz's ability to compose music. Emil Steininger, the secretary of Vienna Theatre, strongly recommended Franz to be responsible for composing music.

Stan and Leon reluctantly agreed to give Franz a chance to try to compose music for "merry widow", when he received "Idiot! You stupid knights! "(Dummer, dummer Reitersmann), he was immediately inspired, and played his melody to Leon on the phone that night.

Franz finally got a contract to compose music, and since the beginning of 195, he has been working nonstop. When he performed his composition in front of Wilhelm Karczag and Karl Wallner, the directors of Vienna Theatre, he was criticized as "No Musicality", so he only agreed to allocate a small production fee to give it a try. Fortunately, the male and female protagonists who participated in the performance were very confident in the play.

merry widow was finally staged at the Vienna Theatre on the evening of December 3th, 195. All parties had different opinions, with mixed praise and bad reputation. It barely survived a low box office for three weeks, but when it was about to be released, the box office suddenly reversed, and it ended with more than 6 performances in an unstoppable manner. Merry widow Waltz, London Gaiety &; George Edwardes, manager of Daly's Theatre, immediately bought the London performance right of merry widow with William Boosey, and it was adapted into an English script by Basil Hood, with Ardian Ross filling in the English lyrics and Lily Elsie and Joseph Coyne leading the show. The result was a great sensation, and a whirlwind of "merry widow" was set off in London. Fashionable ladies in London imitated Lily Ayers' play dress, put on the towering hat of "merry widow" and showed off everywhere. The same scene has also appeared in major cities in the United States and capitals around the world, but John Strauss Jr.' s masterpiece Bat can't even reach such a crazy scene.

merry widow is often compared with The Bat, but few people can point out what would happen if John Strauss Jr. wrote merry widow or rehal wrote The Bat. Time can't go back, so there is no solution to this question. It's better to ask yourself what theme you can come up with to create a operetta with Chinese flavor.