The
Gitana-Galopp (‘Gipsy Galop’, 1839) draws on existing Spanish themes. Those themes may be familiar from Angèle’s aria ‘Flamme vengeresse’ in Auber’s opera
Le Domino Noir, and the process by which they came to be used by Strauss was seemingly somewhat tortuous. Apparently Auber used the themes originally for a pas de deux written for a revival of
La Muette de Portici. They were then re-used in
Le Domino Noir in 1837, and in a ballet
La Gitana staged in St Petersburg for Marie Taglioni in 1838. This ballet was then staged in Vienna in April 1839, when Strauss composed his galop.
from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2000
;)
