Other delightful episodes frequently presented in instrumental versions include the lovely drinking song, “Trinke, Liebchen, trinke schnell”; the laughing song of the maid, Adele, “Mein Herr Marquis”; the blood-warming czardas of the “Hungarian countess” who is actually Rosalinda in disguise, “Klaenge der Heimat”; the stirring hymn to champagne, “Die Majistaet wird anerkannt”; and the buoyant waltz, “Du und du.”
The Gypsy Baron (Die Ziguenerbaron) is almost as popular as Die Fledermaus. This is an operetta with libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer, introduced in Vienna on October 24, 1885. Sandór Barinkay returns to his ancestral home after having left it as a child. He finds it swarming with gypsies who have made it their home, and he falls in love with one of them, Saffi.
The overture is made up of material from the concerted finales, beginning with the entrance of the gypsies in the first finale; continuing with Saffi’s celebrated gypsy air, “So elend und treu”; and culminating with the celebrated waltz music of the second act, the Schatz, or Treasure, waltzes.
Other familiar excerpts include Sandór’s exuberant aria with chorus from the first act “Ja, das alles auf Ehr,” probably the most celebrated vocal excerpt from the entire operetta; and the Entry March (Einzugmarsch) from the third act—for chorus and orchestra in the operetta, but often given by salon ensembles in an orchestral version.
Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss, like Eduard, is a younger brother of Johann Strauss II, and son of Johann Strauss I. He was born in Vienna on August 22, 1827. He was an extremely talented young man not only in music but even as architect and inventor. Of more serious and sober disposition than either of his two brothers, he long regarded café-house music condescendingly, his musical preference being for the classics. His famous brother, Johann Strauss II, needing someone to help him direct his orchestra, finally prevailed on Josef to turn to café-house music. Josef made his debut as café-house conductor and composer simultaneously on July 23, 1853, his first waltz being Die Ersten. After that he often substituted for brother Johann in directing the latter’s orchestra in Vienna and on extended tours of Europe and Russia. Josef died in Vienna on July 21, 1870.
Josef Strauss wrote almost three hundred dance compositions. Though certainly less inspired than his brother, Johann, he was also far more important than Eduard. Josef’s best waltzes have much of the lyrical invention, and the harmonic and instrumental invention of those by Johann Strauss II. Perhaps his greatest waltz is the Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich (Swallows from Austria), op. 164, a nature portrait often interrupted by the chirping of birds. Here Josef’s outpouring of the most sensitive lyricism and delicate moods is hardly less wondrous than that of Johann Strauss II. H. E. Jacob went so far as to say that “since Schubert’s death there has been no such melody. It is in the realm of the Impromptus and Moments Musicaux. It breathes the sweet blue from which the swallows come.”
Another Josef Strauss classic in three-quarter time is Sphaerenklaenge (Music of the Spheres), op. 285, equally remarkable for its spontaneous flow of unforgettable waltz tunes. Among Strauss’ other delightful waltzes are the Aquarellen, op. 258; Delirien, op. 212; Dynamiden, op. 173; Marienklaenge, op. 214. A theme from Dynamiden waltzes was used by Richard Strauss in his famous opera Der Rosenkavalier.
In collaboration with his brother, Johann, Josef wrote the famous Pizzicato Polka and several other pieces including the Monstrequadrille and Vaterlandischer March. With Johann and Eduard he wrote the Schuetzenquadrille and the Trifolienwalzer.