' (''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 including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

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 (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

to a German

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

by Maximilian Steiner based on the tale "

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" () is a folk tale in Arabic added to the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popul ...

" from ''

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of History of the Middle East, Middle Eastern List of fairy tales, folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nigh ...

''.

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 prim ...

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 (10 May 1888 – 28 December 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and became one of cinema of the United States, Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodi ...

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 later reworked the ballet music from this work into a concert piece, 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 Ali Baba Operas