Lehár: Zigeunerliebe (Gipsy Love)

Musical Arrangement BERT GRUND

Franz Lehár (1870-1948) found remarkably expressive and brilliantly colorful sounds for the drama and romantic moods of this unique topic. The style was decisively infl uenced by the familiar cadence of Hungarian gypsy music in the composer‘s native country. This is not only evidenced by the csárdás rhythms or the inclusion of the cymbalom in the arrangement, but above all by the many pronouncedly melancholy hues of the melody and harmony produced by the use of minor keys.

After „The Merry Widow“ and „The Count of Luxembourg“, „Gypsy Love“ is Franz Lehár‘s third most successful operetta. After its triumphant Vienna premiere in 1910, it was performed all over the world from Broadway to the Far East, for example at the Empire Theater in Darjeeling, at the foot of the Himalayas! This 1974 film features major artists with extensive operatic experience such as Janet Perry, Ion Buzea and – last but not least – Adolf Dallapozza.