Der Graf von Luxemburg

Der Graf von Luxemburg (The Count of Luxembourg) is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár to a German libretto by Alfred Willner, Robert Bodanzky, and Leo Stein. A Viennese take on bohemian life in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, the story revolves around an impoverished aristocrat and a glamorous opera singer who have entered into a sham marriage without ever seeing each other and later fall in love at first sight, unaware that they are already husband and wife.

It premiered at the Theater an der Wien, in Vienna, on 12 November 1909 and was an immediate success, being revived in Germany and translated into other languages for successful foreign productions including in France as Le comte de Luxembourg and in English-speaking countries as The Count of Luxembourg. It has remained in the repertory until the present day, especially in German-speaking countries, and several film and stage adaptations have been produced. The piece was recorded with the original Viennese cast and has since been recorded in several languages.

Lehár composed Der Graf von Luxemburg in only three weeks and in a private remark before its premiere called it "Sloppy work, completely worthless!" However, it became his first major international success after The Merry Widow. Between those operettas, he had composed two one-act stage works, Peter und Paul reisen ins Schlaraffenland (Peter and Paul Travel to Paradise) and Mitislaw der Moderne (Fashionable Mitislaw), followed by his indifferently received three-act operetta Der Mann mit den drei Frauen (The Man with Two Wives) in 1908 and the somewhat more successful Das Fürstenkind (Maids of Athens) which premiered in October 1909, one month before Der Graf von Luxemburg.

Like The Merry Widow, Der Graf von Luxemburg deals with the themes of how the promise of wealth affects love and marriage, and the contrast between the gaiety of Parisian society and Slavic seriousness. The libretto was written by Alfred Willner, Robert Bodanzky, and Leo Stein. Stein had previously worked with Lehár on his 1904 Der Göttergatte, and Bodanzky had co-authored the librettos for both Peter und Paul reisen ins Schlaraffenland and Mitislaw der Moderne. The libretto for Der Graf von Luxemburg was not completely new. It was a re-working of the one written by Alfred Willner and Bernard Buchbinder twelve years earlier for Johann Strauss' unsuccessful operetta Die Göttin der Vernunft (The Goddess of Reason).

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