About the work
Die Faschingsfee (The Carnival Fairy) is an operetta in three acts by Emmerich Kálmán to a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Rudolf Österreicher, premiered on 21 September 1917 at Vienna's Johann Strauss Theatre. Its music derives from Kálmán's 1915 Budapest operetta Zsuzsi kisasszony, thoroughly reworked with a new text for Vienna.
Plot
At a carnival party, painter Viktor Ronai defends a woman unknown to him against an overbearing guest, who angrily withdraws the prize money he had donated; the stranger, who turns out to have secretly funded the prize herself and is finally revealed as Princess Alexandra Maria, brings Viktor happiness and recognition.
Cultural significance
Coming straight after the hit Die Csárdásfürstin, the work struck contemporary critics as rather rambling, though its csárdás rhythms and a sweeping closing waltz rank among its most engaging numbers; in 1931 it was adapted into a feature film by Hans Steinhoff.