Marinka is an operetta by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán with book by George Marion, Jr. and Karl Farkas, and lyrics by George Marion, Jr. The operetta is a retelling of the story of the Mayerling Incident, but with a happy ending replacing the infamous 1889 double suicide of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf and his mistress, Maria Vetsera. The best-known songs include "Only One Touch of Vienna," "Sigh by Night," "The Cab Song," and "When I Auditioned for the Harem of the Shah".
Emmerich Kálmán
Emmerich Kálmán was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are Die Csárdásfürstin (1915) and Gräfin Mariza (1924). Influences on his compositional style include Hungarian folk music, the Viennese style of precursors such as Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár, and, in his later works, American jazz. As a result of the Anschluss, Kálmán and his family fled to Paris and then to the United States. He eventually returned to Europe in 1949 and died in Paris in 1953.
Emmerich Kálmán
Young Kálmán, by Mart Sander
Bust of Kálmán in Siófok