Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron)

Johann Strauss (1825 - 1899).
Operette in three acts. 1885.
Libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer, after a novel by Mór Jókai.
First performance at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, on 24th October 1885.

Sándor Barinkay returns to claim his father's estates, but is at first unsuccessful, obstructed by the illiterate Zsupán. He falls in love with the gypsy girl Sáffi and marries her in a gypsy ceremony that proves unconvincing to the authorities. His fortunes are finally restored after his triumphant return from an Austrian campaign in Spain.

Strauss introduces Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron) with an overture of the expected brilliance. The tenor Barinkay explains his wandering existence in his Als flotter Geist (As a cheerful soul). He explains his open-air gypsy marriage, attended by officiating birds, in Wer uns getraut (Who married us), and is greeted by a final march of victory, when he returns from Spain.