The Land of Smiles
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Das Land des Lächelns The Land of Smiles |
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| Operetta by Franz Lehár | |
The composer
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| Librettist | |
| Language | German |
| Premiere | 10 October 1929 Metropol Theater, Berlin (revised version) |
The Land of Smiles (German: Das Land des Lächelns) is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner-Beda. The performance time is about 100 minutes.
This was one of Lehár's later works, and has a bittersweet ending which the Viennese loved. The title refers to the supposed Chinese custom of smiling, whatever happens in life. (The leading character, Prince Sou-Chong has a song early in the show, "Immer nur lächeln" ("Always smiling") which describes this.)
Lavishly produced, the show was built largely around the performance of the tenor Richard Tauber, a close friend of Lehár, for whom he customarily wrote a Tauberlied – a signature tune exploiting the exceptional qualities of his voice – in each of his later operettas. On this occasion it was "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" ("You are my heart's delight"), probably the most famous of all the Tauberlieder. Tauber also appeared in the show in London, singing many encores of his song.
The work was originally produced under the title Die gelbe Jacke (The Yellow Jacket). This was presented at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, on 9 February 1923 with Hubert Marischka as Sou-Chong. It was not a great success, and Lehár later revised it, under the new title of Das Land des Lächelns, which was first performed, at the Metropol Theater, Berlin, on 10 October 1929. Tauber reprised his role in London (1931 and 1932) South Africa (1939) and New York (1946), as well as in Vienna in 1930 (again at the Theater an der Wien) and in 1938 (at the Vienna State Opera and also in Prague). Tauber also sang it in London and on tour throughout Britain between 1940 and 1942.
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