Zigeunerbaron - als flotter

Johann Strauss II

Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron)

Als flotter Geist und früh verwaist

On his first entry in Der Zigeunerbaron the “gypsy baron” of the title is neither gypsy nor, at this stage, a baron. Banished from Hungary during the Turko-Hungarian War, he is taking advantage of an amnesty to return to Temesvar and reclaim the confiscated family estates. As he introduces himself, he gallops through a list of the amazing things he has been doing in the meantime and, in case anyone doesn’t believe him, twice breaks into a reassuringly stylish waltz. The gypsies who have taken over what is left of his castle are so impressed that they make him their “gypsy baron.”