Marinka
Libretto by George Marion, Jr. and Karl Farkas
Premiere: Winter Garden, New York, July 18, 1945
A retelling of the famous Mayerling incident, but with a happy ending replacing the infamous 1889 double suicide of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolph and his mistress, Maria Vetsera.
Act I: Teenagers in a 1937 Connecticut movie theater decide that the story of Mayerling that they have just seen portrayed on the screen is too tragic. Their bus driver, the son of Rudolph’s coachman Bratfisch, relates to all what reallyhappened that fateful dayhis story unfolds as the action of the flashback plot.
Rudolph has invited the ladies of the Vienna Ballet to visit him at his Mayerling hunting lodge. Dancer Tilly, Bratfisch’s daughter, tells the prince that his attentions would be better focused on a friend of hers, Maria Vetsera, known as Marinka, who works at a Budapest orphanage and seeks to meet the crown prince. Francis, nephew of court chamberlain Lobkowitz and in love with Tilly, warns Rudolph that his former paramour, Countess Landowska, has written an autobiography that contains state secrets revealed to her during their relationship. Rudolph rushes off to find Landowska. When Marinka and Rudolph finally meet, it is love at first sight—but not quite, as she informs him that she has seen him before, sleeping at the opera. Things sour, however, when Lt. Baltatzy requests from Rudolph a promotion so that he can marry his sweetheart, Maria Vetsera. Rudolph finally confronts Landowska, who agrees to hand over her book, but only if they resume their relationship—an offer Rudolph cannot now accept. Marinka, ordered to appear before Rudolph’s father, Emperor Franz Joseph, is told by him that, for the good of the empire, she should make the obvious sacrifice and leave Rudoloph. She reluctantly agrees. A Hungarian delegation appears and demands that Hungary be freed from Austrian, and thus German, control. The Emperor contemplates the evolving confluence of personal and political issues.
Act II: Landowska warns Marinka against breaking her promise to the Emperor to never again see Rudolph. Before she shows Marinka her autobiographical manuscript, she tears out all the offensive pages—personal and political—and there is nothing left but the binding. The Emperor has refused the offer of the Hungarian delegation, who encourage Rudolph to join them in waging battle against his father’s outdated policies. According to plan, Rudolph and Marinka, by now happily reunited, will be “innocently” at Mayerling when the coup occurs, at which time he will travel to Vienna and assume control of the government. The coup ultimately fails. Rudolph, charged with treason, is brought before his father, who cannot bring himself to kill his own son. He tells the couple to disappear anywhere in the world, outside his Empire. The final scene returns to Connecticut. The teenagers thank Bradley for relating the true story of Mayerling. He turns to the audience and winks.
