''Der Zarewitsch'' (''The Tsarevich'') 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 ...

in three acts by

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is ''The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life ...

. The German

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 and

Bela Jenbach Bela Jenbach, real name Béla Jacobowicz (1 April 1871 in Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary – 21 January 1943 in Vienna) was an Austrian actor and operetta librettist of Hungarian origin. Jenbach was of Jewish origin and the brother of the screenwri ...

is based on the play of the same name by Polish author

Gabriela Zapolska Maria Gabriela Stefania Korwin-Piotrowska (1857–1921), known as Gabriela Zapolska, was a Polish novelist, playwright, naturalist writer, feuilletonist, theatre critic and stage actress. Zapolska wrote 41 plays, 23 novels, 177 short stories, 25 ...

. One of his later operettas, Lehár composed the work as a vehicle for

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

, the acclaimed Austrian

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

. The work received its first performance at the in Berlin on 16 February 1927, with Tauber and Rita Georg in the leading roles.

Roles

Synopsis

The plot of ''Der Zarewitsch'' is loosely based on a true story: the self-imposed exile of the son of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

, Alexei, who shirked his father's command to become a monk or take interest in the military by running away to his brother-in-law's kingdom, the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, with his Finnish mistress disguised as a page. The couple spent two years in hiding until Alexei was compelled by his father to return. His father was paranoid that Alexei was conspiring against him and ultimately Alexei ended up being imprisoned and tortured. The Russian senate convicted him of conspiring against his father and he was sentenced to death. He died due to ill health before he could be executed, most likely resulting from the poor treatment he received while imprisoned. Reichert's libretto differs on several points from the life of Alexei. First, he changed the story so that the young girl, Sonja, is first seen disguised as a male Circassian dancer. When the Tsarevich runs away with Sonja he believes that she is a boy adding what

Richard Traubner Richard Traubner (November 24, 1946 – February 25, 2013) was an American journalist, author, operetta scholar and historian, and lecturer on theatre and (mostly musical) film. His best-known book, ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'', was first pu ...

of ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also support ...

'' called an "underlying homosexual frisson" to the operetta. Eventually the young prince discovers that Sonja is in fact a girl disguised as a boy. The two fall in love and escape to Naples. A further major difference is that the operetta does not have such a tragic ending, though it is not exactly happy either. Eventually the Zarewitsch learns that his father has died and he knows his relationship cannot continue with Sonja as he is now the Tsar. The operetta ends with a "bittersweet royal–commoner parting".

Famous arias

* "Es steht ein Soldat am Wolgastrand" (A soldier stands on the bank of the Volga) * Duet: "Dich nur allein, nenn' ich mein" (You alone take I for mine) * "Einer wird kommen" (Someone will come) * Volga song: "Allein, wieder allein" (Alone, again alone) * "Willst du?" (Do you want to?) * Duet: "Warum hat jeder Frühling, ach, nur einen Mai?" (Why does every spring have only one May?)

Recordings

In 1927,

recorded the two principal arias, and two duets with his first wife, Carlotta Vanconti, for Odeon. Vanconti had taken over the role of Sonja from its creator, Rita Georg, on tour and later sang it in Berlin. In 1938 a radio broadcast of ''Der Zarewitsch'' was at the centre of a court case in which the composer sued a Dutch café owner for allowing his customers to listen to the broadcast, in breach of his copyright. A 1968 complete recording with

Rita Streich Rita Streich (18 December 192020 March 1987) was one of the most admired and recorded lyric coloratura sopranos of the post-war period. Biography Rita Streich was born in Barnaul, southern Siberia, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Repu ...

(soprano) and

Nicolai Gedda Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, known professionally as Nicolai Gedda (11 July 1925 – 8 January 2017), was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1951, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made h ...

(tenor), the

Graunke Symphony Orchestra The Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker) is a German orchestra based in Munich but active statewide in Bavaria. It gives subscription concerts at the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater and, to a lesser degree, at the Philhar ...

, choir of the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

, and the Tchaika Balalaika Ensemble conducted by - German Electrola (EMI). In 1972, it was produced for television by Unitel under the direction of Austrian

Arthur Maria Rabenalt Arthur Maria Rabenalt (25 June 1905 – 26 February 1993) was an Austrian film director, writer, and author. He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978. His 1958 film ''That Won't Keep a Sailor Down'' was entered into the 1st Moscow I ...

(who also directed its 1954 TV staging) and featuring cinematography by

Heinz Pehlke Heinz Pehlke (October 8, 1922 – March 12, 2002) was a freelance German cinematographer in film and television. In 1943, he worked as an assistant on the Nazi propaganda film, '' Kolberg'' directed by Veit Harlan and in 1962, on the anti-Nazi tele ...

"Der Zarewitsch"
filmportal.de Retrieved March 12, 2012. The 1972 TV production starred Wieslaw Ochman in the title role and

Teresa Stratas Teresa Stratas (born May 26, 1938) is a retired operatic soprano from Canada of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's ''Lulu''. Early life and career Stratas was born Anastasia Stratakis to ...

as Sonja. In 1973, it was issued on VHS cassettes, and in 2007 for the first time on DVD, in collaboration between

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

and Unitel.

References

External links