About the work
Die Zirkusprinzessin (The Circus Princess) is an operetta in three acts by Emmerich Kálmán with a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. Written as a follow-up to Kálmán's hit Countess Maritza, it premiered on 26 March 1926 at the Theater an der Wien.
Plot
At the Circus Stanislavsky, the masked equestrian performer and violinist Mister X appears, his true identity unknown to anyone. He falls for the widowed Princess Fedora Palinska, spurning the ambitious Prince Sergius Vladimir, who vows revenge; only in Vienna is the mystery of Mister X's origins resolved.
Cultural significance
With numbers such as the waltz "Leise schwebt das Glück vorüber" and the hussars' song "Mädel, gib acht", the work spread across half of Europe within a year; the English version opened on Broadway in 1927 as The Circus Princess, complete with real circus performers.