The operetta, which is actually an opera. Richard Specht, the Viennese music writer and first German biographer of Puccini, called Franz Lehár's Zigeunerliebe "an opera that can also be performed in an operetta theatre if necessary". And a Berlin review shortly thereafter read, "As an audience, you don't know how to tune in; whether to opera or operetta." In any case, the authors described their work as a romantic operetta - a paradox that is typical of Franz Lehár and his utopia, "that there will no longer be a partition between opera and operetta" Thus Gypsy Love has also become a sui generis work: Grand scenes and expansive finales with Wagnerian leanings are juxtaposed with couplé-like duets, symphonic storm paintings next to sparkling, wonderfully picturesque orchestrations (cymbal, tárogató!) of gypsy melodies. And yet everything fits together, it is not a patchwork. Lehár never put so much care into any of his works, not even Giuditta, written for the Vienna State Opera, as he did into this marvel, and next to the Merry Widow it is certainly his opus most saturated with great melodies. You will forgive my enthusiasm, but it will be understood after listening to the first complete musical recording of the original 1910 version.