Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein (Der Favorit)

Robert Stolz's operetta Der Favorit was first performed at the Komische Oper in Berlin on 7 April 1916, to a libretto by Fritz Grünbaum and Wilhelm Sterk. Stolz was then in his thirties and still better known as a theatre conductor than as a composer; the long series of Viennese stage and film successes came later. Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein, the waltz song from the first act, outlived the piece entirely and was recorded by singers who never appeared in it. Grünbaum, who wrote the text, was a cabaret satirist and died at Dachau in 1941.