Kálmán_Imre_cropped_(Willinger_Vilmos,_1924)

''Az obsitos'' (''The Soldier on Leave'') is an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

by Emmerich Kálmán. It has been performed under many different names.

Performance history and versions

The first version, in Hungarian, with a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Károly von Bakonyi, premiered at the

Vígszínház The Comedy Theater of Budapest ( hu, Vígszínház) is a theater in Budapest. Starting in the turn of the 19th and 20th century as an opposition to the conservative National Theater, it became a pioneer institution of Hungarian drama, and one of ...

, Budapest, on 16 March 1910. The second, German version, ' (The good comrade), with a libretto revised by

Viktor Léon Victor Léon, also Viktor Léon (born Victor Hirschfeld; 4 January 1858, Szenic, Nyitra County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (today Senica, Slovakia) – 23 February 1940, Vienna) was a well-known Jewish Austrian-Hungarian librettist. He col ...

, premiered at the

Bürgertheater The Bürgertheater was a theatre in Vienna. The Wiener Bürgertheater was erected in 1905 in the Third District (3 Bezirk), at Vordere Zollamtsstraße 13. It was designed by the architects Franz von Krauss and Josef Tölk. The official opening ...

, Vienna, on 10 October 1911. The location of the operetta was changed from Hungary to Austria. The main roles were sung by ,

Louise Kartousch Louise Kartousch (17 August 1886 – 13 February 1964) was an Austrian character dancer, opera and operetta soprano. Life Born in Linz, Kartousch attended the music school in Linz and was trained in Vienna. She had children's roles in Linz an ...

, Hubert Marischka and . The third, more nationalistic, version, ' (''I Gave Gold for Iron'') was premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 16 October 1914. This was adapted, with additional music by Sigmund Romberg and words by

Rida Johnson Young Rida Johnson Young (February 28, 1875 – May 8, 1926) was an American playwright, songwriter and librettist.IBDBRida Johnson Young Retrieved November 21, 2007 In her career, Young wrote over thirty plays and musicals, and over 500 songs. She ...

, as ''Her Soldier Boy'' which was produced on Broadway, at the Astor Theatre, from 6 December 1916 to 26 May 1917, and as ''Soldier Boy'' at the Apollo Theatre,

Shaftesbury Avenue Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly Cir ...

, Westminster, in 1918. A version produced by Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio, 2005 was called ''A Soldier's Promise''. This was based on '. It was recorded as a DVD.

Roles

Synopsis

Karoline and her daughter Marlene do not know that their long-absent son and brother Franz has been killed in the war. Franz's soldier friend Alwin goes to tell them the news, but in the event he can't bring himself to tell them the truth, and introduces himself as Alwin, whom they haven’t seen in many years. But things grow difficult when Alwin finds himself falling in love with his “sister”.

References

* * Lamb, Andrew (1992), "Kálmán, Emmerich" in '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

(London)

External links

Josef Weinberger page on ''Der gute Kamerad'', accessed 20 November 2010

IBDB page on ''Her Soldier Boy'', accessed 20 November 2010
*
"Mirth and Melody in ''Her Soldier Boy''
review in '' The New York Times'', 7 December 1916, accessed 20 November 2010 {{authority control Operas by Emmerich Kálmán German-language operettas Hungarian-language operettas 1910 operas 1911 operas 1914 operas