About the work
Ein Herbstmanöver (An Autumn Manoeuvre) is Emmerich Kálmán's first operetta. The Hungarian original, Tatárjárás, with a libretto by Károly Bakonyi and Andor Gábor, premiered on 22 February 1908 at the Vígszínház in Budapest, and Robert Bodanzky's reworked German version followed on 22 January 1909 at Vienna's Theater an der Wien.
Plot
Baroness Riza and Lieutenant Lörenthy were once a couple until an intrigue tore them apart; when autumn manoeuvres bring his regiment near her estate, the two meet again, and after the usual mix-ups and jealousies two couples are finally united.
Cultural significance
With its Gypsy tunes and military marches, the work was staged within a year in Hamburg, Stockholm, London and New York (as The Gay Hussars); after decades of neglect, not least due to its later ban under National Socialism, it did not return to German stages until a 2017 production at the Stadttheater Gießen.