How can one yaw/pitch an object, not the camera?

[Sfumato]

I want my object to rotate around the axis Y. I rotate it in main reender window say 120 degrees, correct its position (x, y, and z) and make a keyframe. When the animation frames are rendered the object makes a circle around y axis instead.
I tried to use the same X_mid and Y_mid values, but that wouldn't work either.
How can one assign and lock the object\scene center\origin (x=0, y=0, z=0) when rotating the object? And what is the easiest way to yaw\pitch the object (not the camera) with its center fixed within all the frames rendered?
Thank You,
Sfumato.