About the work
Emmerich Kálmán's operetta „Gräfin Mariza" was premiered in Vienna in 1924 and is, alongside „Die Csárdásfürstin", his second great success. The libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald sets the action on a Hungarian country estate and brings together aristocrats, gypsies and an impoverished count.
Plot
On her Hungarian country estate Countess Mariza announces a fictional engagement to one „Baron Koloman Zsupán" to ward off all genuine suitors — until a real Zsupán shows up. To complicate matters Mariza employs a new estate manager, Béla Török — in truth Count Tassilo Endrödy, who is impoverished and earns money for his sister's dowry under a false name. Tassilo and Mariza meet over wine and gypsy music; both feel a strong attraction. The engagement spree comically derails: the real Zsupán, a foolish Hungarian small landowner, courts Tassilo's sister Lisa, who has unexpectedly arrived. Mariza misunderstands Tassilo's relationship to Lisa as a love affair and dismisses him. Tassilo's old aunt — the wealthy Princess Bozena — appears, reveals Tassilo's noble identity and grants him sufficient fortune. Mariza recognises her error; Tassilo and Mariza, Zsupán and Lisa marry.
Cultural significance
Gräfin Mariza is, alongside Csárdásfürstin and Lehár's Lustige Witwe, the most-performed operetta of the inter-war period. „Komm, Zigan, komm, Zigan, spiel mir was vor", „Komm mit nach Varasdin" and „Grüß mir die süßen, die reizenden Frauen im schönen Wien" are evergreens. Performances at the Mörbisch Lake Festival and the Vienna Volksoper are tradition. The fusion of Hungarian gypsy music and Viennese operetta charm reaches its climax in this work.