Der Vogelhändler

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Der Vogelhändler (The Bird Seller) is an operetta in three acts by Carl Zeller with a libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held based on Varin and Biéville's Ce que deviennent les roses. It was first performed on 10 January 1891 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna with the celebrated Viennese actor and singer, Alexander Girardi, in the title role. It also played at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London in 1895 and at the Casino Theatre in New York in 1891 (as The Tyrolean).

Der Vogelhändler is a bucolic comedy, set in the 18th-century Rhineland (Bavaria), featuring two lovers, Adam, a handsome bird seller from the Tyrol and Christel, the village postmistress. They, at cross-purposes, become involved in romantic complications at the Court of the reigning Prince. After a number of intrigues and misunderstandings, all ends happily.

A tuneful operetta, Adam's Act 2 aria Wie mein Ahnl zwanzig Jahr was popularized by a recording by the soprano Elisabeth Schumann.