Simplicius (operetta)
The operetta received its premiere at the Theater an der Wien on 17 December 1887 and was nearly marred by a false fire alert in the theatre.
The audience of the first night clearly remembered the theatre tragedy of the Ringtheater inferno in Vienna six years earlier and the false alarm nearly triggered a stampede.
Strauss' good friend Viktor Tilgner later recounted that the composer's quick thinking avoided a tragedy as he directed one of the actors to sing a popular number "Ich denke gern zurück an mein entschwundnes Glück" waltz romance song from the final act again to divert the audience's attention.
Its music was also probably survived by the many individual pieces that Johann Strauss II produced from the original score among them Donauweibchen mentioned above as well as "Reitermarsch", Op.
Arnim leaves the religious house, and with Wendelin and Simplicius missing, it is eventually assumed that the family has died out, though there is no firm proof.
In a dense wood in the foothills of the Sudeten Mountains The Hermit, Wendelin von Grübben, seeks peace of mind through prayer.
In order to be left in peace, Wendelin hands over to Melchior the farewell letter that he wrote when initially planning to kill himself and Simplicius.
Several soldiers who have lost their way then arrive and assuming the wild and unkempt Simplicius to be a kidnap victim, they separate him from his father and order him to leave the woods.
In a camp at Olmütz (Olomouc) While handing out double rations with her daughter Tilly to the troops before battle, Schnapslotte is drawn to an unknown soldier.
Hildegarde describes a dream in which two men vie for her heart and is rebuked by her father and offered bitter consolation from Schnapslotte.
The confusion is deepened when an imperial dispatch arrives from Vienna claiming that suspect papers and documents have been discovered in the residence of one Baron von Grübben.
Six months later in a castle courtyard in Hanau As Wendelin despairs of ever being reunited with his son a group of angry peasants hunt down Simplicius for ever acting the fool.
Before being able to tell Hildegarde the good news, General von Vliessen receives a new order from Vienna: a wild young man named Simplicius must be found.
Melchior finds himself a victim of his own cunning: he had secretly given Tilly's mother a love potion to be administered to Hildegarde but Schnapslotte drank it herself.
