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. This waltz song was to later become the first waltz theme of his popular "Donauweibchen", Op. 427 ("Danube Maiden").