About the work
Wenn nicht jene, dann eben diese (If Not That One, Then This One) is a four-act operetta by the Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, his second work in the genre after Husband and Wife. He composed it in 1910 and conducted the orchestra himself at its premiere on 25 April 1911 at the Mailov Brothers' Theatre in Baku, today's Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Plot
The impoverished noblewoman Gulnaz is to marry the wealthy merchant Mashadi Ibad, though she loves the student Sarvar. Through various schemes, a threat from a local gang and a ruse at the bathhouse, the couple finally gets its way. Mashadi Ibad ends up marrying the servant Senem instead, true to the operetta's title philosophy: "if not that one, then this one."
Cultural significance
Alongside Husband and Wife and Arshin Mal Alan, the work ranks among the Azerbaijani classics of the genre and satirises pre-revolutionary society, particularly social prejudice and the restricted position of women. Hajibeyov wove traditional mugham music together with verses by the poet Fuzûlî; the story was filmed in 1918/19 and 1956 and staged in, among other places, Turkey, Bulgaria and Iran.