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Gypsy Love (operetta)

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(Redirected from Zigeunerliebe)
For the silent film, see Gypsy Love (1922 film).

1911 sheet music cover for Gypsy Love, showing Marguerita Sylva who starred on Broadway

Gypsy Love, sometimes spelled Gipsy Love, (German: Zigeunerliebe) is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár with a German-language libretto by Alfred Willner and Robert Bodanzky. Premiered in Vienna in 1910, the operetta's plot centres on the daughter of a Romanian landowner who is engaged to a man of her own class but is attracted to a Romani violinist at her engagement party. The brooding, romantic story featured dance music.[1]

Gypsy Love has been translated into various languages. In 1910 the operetta had its first performance outside Austria in Budapest in Hungarian. The piece continues to be played regularly in Eastern Europe. In 1911 a production toured France in a French translation by Henry Gauthier-Villars and Jean Bénédict. A. H. Woods produced an English version using a libretto and lyrics by Harry B. Smith and Robert B. Smith that had a short Broadway run in 1911 before touring the United States into 1913. This production made a star of the actor and tenor Arthur Albro as the gypsy violinist. Albro starred in varying productions of Gypsy Love in the United States into the early 1920s; most of them produced by Andreas Dippel.

George Edwardes produced the piece as Gipsy Love in 1912, in London, with a new English libretto by Basil Hood and lyrics by Adrian Ross. The plot bore little resemblance to the original story. With the aid of Lehar, the score was vastly modified with many songs removed entirely, others reassigned to different characters, and several new songs added in the style of Edwardian musical comedy. The resulting work contained only superficial similarities to the original operetta. It had a run of 299 performances in London in 1912 and toured in Britain the following year. In 1914 this version toured Australia produced by J. C. Williamson.

Productions

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Non-English language productions

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The original production, Zigeunerliebe, premiered at the Carltheater, Vienna, in German, on 8 January 1910. The cast included Grete Holm as Zorika, Willi Strehl as Józsi, Max Rohr as Jonel Bolescu, Karl Blasel as Peter Dragotin, Mizzi Zwerenz as Ilona von Körösháza, Littl Koppel as Jolán, and Hubert Marischka as Kajetán Dimetreanu.[2] A success in Vienna, the production ran for a total of 232 performances over a ten month period, and it was frequently revived at the Carltheater into the late 1920s.[3] The Carltheater toured the Vienna production to Paris, which inspired the creation of a French version, Amour Tzigane (translation by Henry Gauthier-Villars and Jean Bénédict).[3] This version toured France with great success in 1911.[1]

The first staging outside of Austria was in Budapest, where it was a success at the Király Színház [hu] in a Hungarian translation, Cigányszerelem, from 1910 to 1911.[3] The piece continues to be played in Eastern Europe[1] and has remained a part of the standard repertory at the Budapest Operetta Theatre  [hu ].[3] In Germany the operetta was first performed on February 12, 1911 at the Komische Oper Berlin with Martha Winternitz-Dorda [de] as Zorika and Jean Nadolovitch as Józsi.[3][4]

English language productions

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A. H. Woods' Gypsy Love

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Photograph of Albro as Jozsi. The actress playing Zorika is unidentified.[a]

The United States debut was produced by A. H. Woods at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia on 2 October 1911.[5] It was the first English-language production of the operetta, and it was performed under the title Gypsy Love using a libretto and lyrics by Harry B. Smith and Robert B. Smith.[6] The Philadelphia Inquirer praised the stars of the production, Marguerita Sylva (Zorika) and Arthur Albro (Jozsi); especially their singing. However, the paper was critical of the show's plot; dismissing the libretto as "incredibly unlikely and dull". The reviewer also praised the sets and costumes as "richly produced" by Woods and thought the score was "masterful", but argued that the contemporary trend towards Viennese operetta on the American stage had grown tired and that the production was unlikely to have a sustained run.[7]

The production transferred to the Globe Theatre on Broadway, where it opened on 17 October 1911 under less than ideal circumstances.[8] Sylva was ill and was unable to continue the show after first act, in which she mostly spoke instead of sang;[8] she was replaced in the second act by her understudy, Phyllis Partington. In its review, The New York Sun stated that Sylva was possibly the "most angry woman in New York" as her understudy was given "what amounted to an ovation".[9] On top of this, critical reviews were highly laudatory of Albro's performance;[8][9] with theatre historian Dan Dietz stating: "Arthur Albro all but stole the show with his voice and good looks."[9] The New York Times review stated, "Of the other members of the cast Albert Albro as the gypsy made the most pronounced impression. He was the figure to the life and he danced and sang with a Hungarian abandon which would have been very infectious under ordinary circumstances."[8] While Sylva recovered and was able to return to the role in good voice, poor reviews of her performance from opening night led to a lack of interest from the New York public, and the work was a failure on Broadway;[9] closing after just 31 performances on 11 November 1911.[10]

The production then began a lengthy tour of the United States[3] ran as late as February 1913 when it was playing in Los Angeles at the Mason Opera House with Partington and Albro still in the cast.[11] The tour then preceded on for further performances in Canada in March 1913.[12] Albro continued to perform with regularity in revivals of Gypsy Love in the United States into the early 1920s. These included a 1917 touring production in New England, including Vermont,[13] Connecticut,[14] and Massachusetts;[15] and a 1920 production in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre.[16] Both the tour and Chicago run were produced by Andreas Dippel.[15][16]

George Edwardes' Gipsy Love

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Daisy Burrell with William "Billy" Spray in the English touring production of 1913

Another English translation and adaptation with a libretto by Basil Hood and lyrics by Adrian Ross, titled Gipsy Love, was written for a London production at Daly's Theatre produced by George Edwardes.[3] The story was heavily modified; abandoning the original central setting in a fantastical dream world and resetting the story in concrete reality.[17] Zorika was renamed Ilona,[17] and the part of Ilona von Körösháza was replaced entirely with a new character, Lady Babby, created for Gertie Millar.[3] Edward Royce directed and choreographed the show.[18] In April 1912 Lehar was in London helping to prepare this revised work for the stage.[19] According to Kurt Gänzl, "the score was torn apart" with several musical numbers being heavily modified, cut, or reassigned to different roles. New pieces were added in the style of Edwardian musical comedy, and in the end the production was vastly different and had only a superficial relationship to the original Zigeunerliebe.[3] The show opened on 1 June 1912 with Hungarian operetta star Sári Petráss as Ilona.[3] Others in the cast included, besides Gertie Millar, Robert Michaelis as Jozsi, Webster Millar as Jonel, W. H. Berry as Dragotin, Lauri de Frece as Kajetan, Fred Kaye as Dimetreanu, Mabel Russell as Jolan, Harry Dearth as Andor, Madeline Seymour as Zorika, Kate Welch as Marischka, and Rosina Filippi as Julesa.[18] The piece was a success in London, running for 299 performances and then touring Great Britain in 1913.[1]

J. C. Williamson mounted Gipsy Love in Australia in a production starring English musical comedy actress Gertrude Glyn as Lady Babby and English soprano Elsie Spain as Ilona. It played in theaters in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne in 1914.[3]

Adaptations

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Film adaptations include The Rogue Song (1930), which used part of the score but had a new story by John Colton and Frances Marion.[20]

In 1974 Unitel GmbH & Co. KG made an adaptation for television in Germany which starred American soprano Janet Perry as Zorika and Romanian tenor Ion Buzea (given in German as Jon Buzea) as Jozsi.[21]

Notes and references

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Notes

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  1. ^ The actress appearing as Zorika may be Sylva, but other possibilities include Phyllis Partington or Finita de Soria, who portrayed Zorika on tour.

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d Traubner 2004, pp. 238–239.
  2. ^ Gänzl 2001, pp. 2263–2264.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gänzl 2001, p. 2264.
  4. ^ Scott 2019, p. 304.
  5. ^ "Gypsy Love Makes American Bow". Hartford Courant. 4 October 1911. p. 6.
  6. ^ Dietz 2021, pp. 110–111.
  7. ^ "Lehar Operetta Richly Produced". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 3 October 1911. p. 11.
  8. ^ a b c d "Gypsy Love Given with the Star Ill; Marguerita Sylva, Unable to Sing, Is Replaced After First Act by Miss Partington". The New York Times. 18 October 1911. p. 8.
  9. ^ a b c d Dietz 2021, p. 111.
  10. ^ Dietz 2021, p. 110.
  11. ^ "This Week's Bills". Los Angeles Tribune. 2 February 1913. p. 20.
  12. ^ "Music and Drama". The Winnipeg Tribune. 27 March 1913. p. 8.
  13. ^ "Real Merit: 'Gypsy Love' Was of Real Artistic Merit". The Barre Daily Times. 17 April 1917. p. 4.
  14. ^ "Parsons Theatre". Hartford Courant. 25 April 1917. p. 5.
  15. ^ a b ""Gypsy Love" at the Court Square Theater". The Springfield Daily News. 7 May 1917. p. 7.
  16. ^ a b "Movies and Opera Mingles By Dippel at the Auditorium". Chicago Tribune. 24 May 1920. p. 21.
  17. ^ a b "Daly's Theatre: Mr. Edwardes's Biggest Production". The Daily Telegraph. 27 May 1912. p. 7.
  18. ^ a b ""Gipsy Love". New Lehar Opera at Daly's". The Observer. 2 June 1912. p. 9.
  19. ^ "Franz Lehar Return Visit to London". The Daily Telegraph. 24 April 1912. p. 16.
  20. ^ "Gipsy Love (Zigeunerliebe)", guidetomusicaltheatre.com. Retrieved 24 July 2025
  21. ^ Gänzl 2001, p. 2265.

Bibliography

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