Publisher Desc.  Der Zigeunerbaron is Strauss's second most popular operetta after Die Fledermaus. Its 1885 premiere had political resonance; the plot popularized the Dual (Austro-Hungarian) Monarchy which was to come to an end with the First World War. The Overture starts in a mood of gypsy melancholy and foreboding and moves inevitably on to a scintillating waltz.