' (''Indigo and the Forty Thieves'') is an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

composed by

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ov ...

to a German

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Maximilian Steiner Maximilian Steiner (27 August 1830 – 29 May 1880) was an Austrian actor and theater director and manager. He is known particularly for his leadership of Vienna's Theater an der Wien from 1869 to 1880, a period during which the theater reduced th ...

based on the tale "

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

" from ''

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

''.

Performance history

It was first staged on 10 February 1871 at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

in Vienna, Austria. It was initially granted a warm reception by Vienna's theatre-going public, but the press was more divided in opinion. Typical published reactions were: "It consists of dance music on which Strauss has overlaid text and characters ... A man of Strauss' reputation should never have allowed his name to be associated with such a venture ... It is an interesting production and is a foretaste of great things to come." The work was successfully restaged in Paris in 1875 under the title ''Queen Indigo'', then, rechristened ''A Night on the Bosphorus'', it was presented in London in 1876. Finally, after Strauss' death, the operetta was entirely reworked in 1906 by

Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...

and staged in Vienna under yet another title, ''The Thousand and One Nights'', which is also the title of one of Strauss' waltzes (" Tausend und eine Nacht", op. 346) of which the melodies were drawn from the stage work.

Max Schönherr Max Schönherr (23 November 190313 December 1984) was an Austrian composer, arranger and conductor. Biography Born in Maribor, Schönherr studied in Graz under Roderich Mojsisovics von Mojsvar and was a composer of light orchestral music in V ...

later reworked the ballet music from this work into a concert piece,The Johann Strauss Edition Volume 47
/ref> and this version has been recorded.

Roles

References

Notes Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Indigo Und Die Vierzig Rauber Operas by Johann Strauss II German-language operettas 1871 operas Operas based on fairy tales Works based on One Thousand and One Nights Operas