Countess Maritza (Gräfin Mariza): Overture

Kálmán settled in Vienna after the encouraging reception of his first operetta at the Theater an der Wien in 1909. He remained in Vienna until the Anschluss    30 years later, writing a string of operetta successes, including above all Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gypsy Princess or The Csárdás Princess) in 1915 and Gräfin Mariza (Countess Maritza) in 1924. Most of them are set in Hungary, like Gräfin Mariza, or include important Hungarian episodes so that Kálmán could legitimately display his command of the Hungarian-gypsy idiom which, following the precedent set by Johann Strauss in Der Zigeunerbaron, he contrived to combine with the required proportion of Viennese waltzes.

Although Gräfin Mariza has no shortage of waltzes, the overture concentrates on the Hungarian-gypsy element in the score. It is presented in the form of a Hungarian rhapsody. Beginning with an impassioned slow introduction, it makes an early feature of    an attractively syncopated dance tune and ends with a lively treatment of material which the composer rightly anticipated would be the most popular in the show.

The Hiungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán settled in Vienna after the encouraging reception of his first operetta at the Theater an der Wien in 1909. He remained in Vienna until the Anschluss 30 years later, writing a string of operetta successes, including above all Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gypsy Princess or The Csárdás Princess) in 1915 and Gräfin Mariza (Countess Maritza) in 1924. Most of them are set in Hungary, like Gräfin Mariza, or include important Hungarian episodes so that Kálmán could legitimately display his command of the Hungarian-gypsy idiom which, following the precedent set by Johann Strauss in Der Zigeunerbaron, he contrived to combine with the required proportion of Viennese waltzes.

Although Gräfin Mariza has no shortage of waltzes, the overture concentrates on the Hungarian-gypsy element in the score. It is presented in the form of a Hungarian rhapsody. Beginning with an impassioned slow introduction, it makes an early feature of    an attractively syncopated dance tune and ends with a lively treatment of material which the composer rightly anticipated would be the most popular in the show.