Oldal 95 [95]
ANDRÁS MIKÓ AND GYÖRGY SZÉKELY: THE COUNT OF LUXEMBOURG, 1952
in how and why the legendary Csárdás Princess had been staged, since Luxi
became its most important antecedent. On the one hand, it paved the way
for a Kálmán premiere, which had the longest series of performances in the
1950s and 1960s, with a hugely successful Lehar premiere, proving that Silver¬
Age operettas are by no means as dead-end as some experts had claimed.
The Soviet delegation to Budapest with Yuri Milyutin also came in useful, as
after visiting a performance of the highly esteemed Count of Luxembourg,
the composer asked if he could see a Kalman operetta. According to Margit
Gaspar, “in response to my reply that we were playing The Violet of Montmartre
three years ago and that we were currently not playing a Kalman operetta,
[Milyutin] commented that it was wrong to neglect our own traditions”.”””
The Soviet composer could be referred to as an authority to justify the
continuation of the previously discredited Kalman-Lehar line. On the other
hand, Margit Gaspar, together with Békeffy and Kellér lighted upon a form of
adaptation in The Count of Luxembourg that was much more productive than
the updating of the politically more direct Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, and
its principles could be used in The Csardas Princess as well. (Furthermore, the
rewritten version of Offenbach’s operetta did not prove to be viable after some
revivals in rural theatres in the 1950s, but the adaptations of The Count of
Luxembourg and The Csárdás Princess have had an unprecedented career up
to now.””’) According to critics, “Békeffy and Kellér have shown what talent and
competence can produce in this field”, so Margit Gaspar certainly entrusted
them with the adaptation of Kalman’s most famous operetta. Contrary to
the verdict a few years earlier, the authors “also proved that operettas with
good old music, by Lehar and others, were lyrically not lost for our time, but
could be resurrected, if their text was properly reworked, refreshed and made
enjoyable”.*?
Luxi ran for 278 performances to full houses until 1954 and it was only
The Csardas Princess that could “oust” it from the repertory of the Operetta
Theatre because of the huge demand for the sensational new show. However,
the mise-en-scéne of György Székely and András Mikó returned for two more
series: in February 1957 and in April 1963. In the 1956-1957 season, which
was completely shattered by the revolution, after the cancelled premiere of
Mágnás Miska, the revival of Ihe Count of Luxembourg became the only
127 Gáspár: Napló Miljutyin elvtárs látogatásáról, 165.
128 "Therefore, evenifitisnotwrong,itiscertainlyexaggeratedthatthe 1954 version of The Csardas
Princess “harmonized with the socialist ideology of Mätyäs Räkosi’s communist regime”.
(Zoltán Imre: Az operett mint interkulturális jelenség — Kálmán Imre Die Csárdásfürstin
(1915) c. operettje különböző színpadokon, http://szinhaz.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/
Imre zoltan csardaskiralyno.pdf (accessed 19 July 2018). Békeffy and Kellér made Kálmáns
operetta acceptable for the 1950s, but in a version that is still a frequent guest on our stages
in Hungary.
129 Balázs: Luxemburg grófja, 563.
+ 93 +