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FREEDOM FIGHT FOR LOVE, AN EXCELLENT FARCE AND SOME MUSIC BY LEHÄR
acting became so brilliant that some reviewers did not deduce the figure of Fleury
from Honthy, but deduced the adaptation itself from Fleury. (Even if Fleury is
missing from both the 1909 Vienna and the 1937 Berlin versions of the operetta
made under Lehar’s supervision.) From Fleury, who feels disdain for “the whole
progress, regarding all that fly towards the future, [...] all that change, accelerate
and move forward, as a fantasy. [...] What was a frivolous and dizzying moth
dance in the 1910s is all whirling now in Madame Fleury’s words." As usually,
e.g. in the Students of Vienna and The Csardas Princess, Honthy played “herself”:
a prima donna. But in the role of the matchmaker she became a key figure in
reviews now, since Fleury/Honthy was thought to embody the critique of an era,
considered very important from an ideological point of view.*“* This critique, in
turn, proved to be crucial for theatre people too, as they regarded The Count of
Luxembourg as not suitable for stage production without it.
Since it had been originally missing from the play, György Székely claimed
that the libretto had been the main obstacle of bringing Lehar’s music closer
to an audience of workers.°*” Among Lehär’s operettas, however, the text of
The Count of Luxembourg provided the best opportunity for “a healthy and
correct script built on a satirical core”, as they had learned the lesson from
Orpheus, in which they “had tried to update a play beyond the boundaries
of music, but got embroiled in a contradiction that could hardly be solved”.
1937 Berlin version of Der Graf von Luxemburg. Lehär composed the couplet “Was ist das
für’ne Zeit, liebe Leute?” in the third act for princess Anastasia Kokozeff, which gave Ernö
Innocent Vincze sufficient inspiration in terms of lyrics too. Consequently, Fleury’s entrée is
princess Kokozeff’s couplet, transferred to act one. Unlike Fleury, the princess is preserved
not by “modesty and good manners”, but by vodka and cigar smoke, and she had no musical
number in the first version of the operetta, just in the second. She, the princess, who appears
only in the last act as a dea ex machina, was transformed into Fleury, Angéle’s friend in the
adaptation of Békeffy and Kellér, playing an important role in all three acts. In addition, she
was credited with two more numbers: a medley in the second act, arranged from songs of
The Merry Widow, and also a duet (the popular “Polka dancer” duet) with Sir Basil, which he
originally sang with Juliette.
Béla Matrai-Betegh: Luxemburg gröfja. Lehär operettje a Fövärosi Operettszinhäzban,
Magyar Nemzet, Vol. 8, No. 302, 254 December, 1952, 5.
Cf. “The authors of the original play [...] only wanted to write a romantic, more or less
efficacious, action-packed and entertaining libretto for the music of Franz Lehar, and they
did not realize what the adaptors did, namely, how much they could entrust to this actress,
Madame Fleury. The whole critique of the age.” Ibid. - However, the role of Fleury was not
devoid of arbitrary moments, as shown by her musical medley in the second act. Milyutin,
who visited the Operetta Theatre, also referred to this fact when he stated that “Hanna
Honthy’s number in Act II seems to stall the plot. I know it was right to insert her number
for the stage effect, because Honthy is a very great artist and she sings this song delightfully.
But from a dramaturgical point of view, I do not approve the insertion of such numbers.”
Gaspar: Napló Miljutyin elvtárs látogatásáról, 165.
Cf. A Luxemburg grófja című darab ismertetése. Gyorsírói feljegyzés a Fővárosi Operett¬
színháznak 1952. szeptember 17-én tartott társulati üléséről (- Társulati ülés), Typed
manuscript, 2—3. Location: Ihe Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute, 2010.105.1.
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