About the work
Where the Lark Sings is a three-act (four-scene) operetta with music by Franz Lehár and a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert, based on Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer's play "Dorf und Stadt" (Village and City). The Hungarian version premiered as "A pacsirta" on 1 February 1918 at the Royal Opera in Budapest, followed by the German-language premiere on 27 March 1918 at the Theater an der Wien.
Plot
The peasant girl Margit leaves her Hungarian home village with the painter Sándor and moves with him to Budapest. Unable to settle into city life, she is further disappointed when Sándor returns to his former love Vilma, and Margit goes back to her village, where she eventually finds happiness with her childhood friend Pista.
Cultural significance
The work was among Lehár's most successful wartime operettas, blending Hungarian colour with Viennese operetta style. It never matched the lasting popularity of "The Merry Widow," however, and is rarely staged complete today.