Johann Strauss II (1825-99): "Wer uns getraut?" or "Wer hat Euch denn getraut?" ("Who Tied The Knot?") From "Der Zigeunerbaron" (The Gypsy Baron, 1885) For a change of genre, I've been playing around with a bit of light Viennese operetta music -- few types of music can evoke such a distinct sense of time and place. This is one of the best-known Strauss songs, from his operetta "Der Zigeunerbaron", with the chorus "Die Liebe, die Liebe ist eine Himmelsmacht!" My recording is based on an arrangement for violin and cello by Arjan van der Boom from: http://arjanvanderboom.nl/Gratis.html I've played it on mandolin and tenor guitar instead, which works just fine. My tempo is rather faster than it is sung in the operetta, more in the style of a dance piece than a song -- I find it sounds better that way when performing it instrumental. 1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin Ozark tenor guitar It's a fun piece to play, and not at all difficult (at least the mandolin part, the guitar part is a bit trickier - I tried it on mandocello first but got my fingers in a knot so I switched to the tenor guitar which is easier to finger). Martin
