''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 including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

Emmerich Kálmán Emmerich Kálmán ( ; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Operetta#Austria–Hungary, Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most p ...

. It has been performed under many different names.

Performance history and versions

The first version, in Hungarian, with a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

by Károly von Bakonyi, premiered at the

Vígszínház The Comedy Theatre of Budapest () is a theatre in Budapest. Starting in the late 19th century as an opposition to the conservative National Theatre (Budapest), National Theatre, it became a pioneer institution of Hungary, Hungarian drama, and one o ...

, 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, Senica, Slovakia – 23 February 1940, Vienna, Austria) was a well-known Jewish librettist. He collaborated with Leo Stein to produce the libretto of Franz Lehár's romantic ...

, 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 Hubert Marischka (27 August 1882 – 4 December 1959), brother of Ernst Marischka, was an Austrian operetta tenor, actor, film director and screenwriter. Career Marischka was born in Brunn am Gebirge, the son of Jiří (or Johann) Marisch ...

and . The third, more nationalistic, version, ' (''I Gave Gold for Iron'') was premiered at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

on 16 October 1914. This was adapted, with additional music by

Sigmund Romberg Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his Musical theatre, musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moo ...

and words by

Rida Johnson Young Rida Johnson Young (born Rida Louise Johnson; February 28, 1869 Young wrote over 30 plays and musicals and approximately 500 songs. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Some of her better-known lyrics include " Mother Machr ...

, 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 The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

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 Piccadill ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, in 1918. A version produced by

Ohio Light Opera The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late ...

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in Wayne County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at the ...

, 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 ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', ed.

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

(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 ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 7 December 1916, accessed 20 November 2010 {{authority control Operas by Emmerich Kálmán German-language operettas Operas Hungarian-language operettas 1910 operas 1911 operas 1914 operas