Dir sing ich mein Lied

Komm zu mir zum Tee

Kiss me, my darling, kiss me

Dir sing ich…

The amorous sentiment of Lehár’s Dir sing ich mein Lied is so tenderly expressed, in a gentle and melodious waltz time, that no one could doubt its sincerity. Equally, no one would trust the predatory Bobby who, in Komm zu mir zum Tee, issues an invitation to tea that might begin respectably enough at five in the afternoon but, if all goes to plan, will not end until five in the morning. As for Kiss me, my darling, kiss me, it seems that neither of them, neither the sweet-talking English-speaking lover nor his willing young victim, is any less to blame than the other. What Claire’s prudish mother would think about it, if she knew about it, is another question.

As their popular dance rhythms indicate, these songs were written towards the end of a career which, though not as long as that of Oscar Straus - it lasted in effect from Die lustige Witwe in 1905 to Giuditta in 1935 - was even more distinguished and almost as successful in keeping up with the changes in musical fashion. Even so, as a reprise of Dir sing ich mein Lied should confirm, Lehár was happiest of all in waltz time, remote though this example is from the Viennese model he inherited from the Strauss family round 1900. An affectionate counterweight to the cynicism of Ninon, it leaves the honours in love and constancy just about evenly divided between “méchant” men and no less naughty women.