Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles)

by Franz Lehár (1870 - 1948).
Romantische Operette in three acts. 1929.
Libretto by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner, after the libretto by Victor Léon for Lehár's Die gelbe Jacke (The Yellow Jacket).
First performance at the Metropoltheater, Berlin, on 10th October 1929.

In Vienna the Chinese Prince Sou-Chong admires Lisa, daughter of Count Lichtenfels. He returns to China as prime minister, with Lisa, but she is home-sick and attempts to escape with dragoon officer Count Gustl von Pottenstein. Their plan is foiled, but in the end Sou-Chong reluctantly allows her to return to Vienna.

Das Land des Láchelns (The Land of Smiles), a revision of Die gelbe Jacke (The Yellow Jacket), its title a reference to the yellow coat of Chinese office, was among Lehár's most successful operettas, providing a leading rôle for the tenor Richard Tauber. Popular songs from the operetta include Sou-Chong's Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (Thine is my heart), as he refuses to follow Chinese custom in taking four wives. In Wer hat die Liebe uns ins Herz gesenkt (Who has planted love in our hearts) Lisa and Sou-Chong sing of their love, while Sou-Chong's earlier modesty in Vienna is expressed in Immer nur lächeln (Always only smiling), with his description of Chinese customs of wooing in Von Apfelblüten einen Kranz (A garland of apple- blossom).