About the work
Die Försterchristl is an operetta in three acts by Georg Jarno to a libretto by Bernhard Buchbinder. It premiered on 17 December 1907 at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna, where the composer's brother Josef Jarno was the director.
Plot
The forester's daughter Christl is courted by two suitors, the vain estate manager Földessy and the boastful Peter Walperl. When Emperor Franz Joseph, delayed by a broken carriage wheel, unexpectedly meets her alone in the forest, Christl falls in love with him without realising who he is.
Cultural significance
With its buoyant waltz melodies, Die Försterchristl became Jarno's greatest stage success and played almost nightly in Vienna until the end of February; stages across the German-speaking world took up the piece, as did Broadway, where it ran in 1910/11 under the title 'The Girl and the Kaiser'.