Creating Countess Maritza

Countess Maritza prèmiered in 1924, the year that Lenin died. and Kleenex was introduced. In many ways it reflected a world already past. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been dissolved, it depicted the era the Viennese were trying to perpetuate. Yet its dances include a fox-trot and a shimmy as well as the more conventional waltz and czárdás.

Kálmán supervised the rehearsals and the first performance was at the Theater an der Wien. It ran for six and one-half hours, largely because the enthusiastic audience called for so many encores. In all it had 374 performances before closing. Soon it was a world-wide success.

The first Tassilo was Hubert Marischka, the theatre's director and leading man. Three of the smaller characters stole the show and helped make it so popular. One was Odette Myrtil, the first Manja. She was an accomplished violinist and broke one at each performance. The New York critic, Brooks Atkinson wrote: "Miss Myrtil is volatile and spirited; and she plays the violin with skill. Her wanton destruction of that instrument ... may indicate the tremendous overhead expense of all such operettas". The Schuberts, the New York producers were sure the work would have a long run and ordered a three months' supply of violins before the New York opening. Their faith was justified; it ran for 321 performances.

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Revised October 2005
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