About the work
Emmerich Kálmán's operetta „Die Csárdásfürstin" was premiered in Vienna in 1915 — at the height of the First World War — and was an instant world success. The libretto by Leo Stein and Béla Jenbach is set in Hungary and Vienna and represents the high point of the so-called „silver" operetta era.
Plot
Budapest 1914. The Hungarian variety singer Sylva Varescu („the csárdás princess") wants to marry the young Prince Edwin Ronald — but his aristocratic Viennese family forbids the marriage. Sylva, in despair, accepts an engagement in the United States. Before her departure she plays a great farewell ball. There Edwin's old friend Boni Káncsiánu — a Hungarian count — and Edwin himself appear. Edwin still loves Sylva, but his family has bound him by contract to his cousin Stasi. The trick: Boni declares to the Viennese ball at Edwin's parents' house that Sylva is HIS wife — to make her socially acceptable. The plan falters, but Edwin's mother Anhilte herself is exposed: she was, in her youth, a variety dancer like Sylva. Both couples are united: Edwin marries Sylva, Boni Stasi.
Cultural significance
Die Csárdásfürstin is, alongside „Gräfin Mariza", Kálmán's most-performed operetta and one of the most popular operettas of the twentieth century. „Heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland", „Mädi, kleines Mädi mein" and „Tausend kleine Engel singen" are evergreen hits. Performances at the Vienna Volksoper, Komische Oper Berlin and the Mörbisch Lake Festival keep the work alive. The fusion of Hungarian csárdás temperament with Viennese waltz colour was style-forming.