Der Schauspieldirektor K.

Köchel-Verzeichnis

The Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was originally created by Ludwig von Köchel. It is abbreviated K or KV. For example, Mozart's Requiem in D minor was, according to Köchel's counting, the 626th piece Mozart composed....

 486, is a comic Singspiel

Singspiel

A Singspiel is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera...

written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 to a German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie

Gottlieb Stephanie

Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger was an Austrian playwright, director and librettist, most famously to Mozart. He came to Vienna during the Seven Years' War as a Prussian prisoner of war...

, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor.

Mozart wrote the opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 as his entry in a musical competition sponsored on February 7, 1786

1786 in music

-Events:*November 7 – America's oldest singing society is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.*In Britain, William Parsons succeeds John Stanley as Master of the King's Musick....

 by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

 at the Schönbrunn Palace

Schönbrunn Palace

Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. The competition was to pit a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 singspiel against an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 opera. The competing Italian entry was the opera buffa

Opera buffa

Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...

 Prima la musica, poi le parole (First the Music, then the Words), by Antonio Salieri

Antonio Salieri

Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....

.

It has been noted that the character and scale of the overture

Overture

Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...

 are similar to those of the overture to Le nozze di Figaro

The Marriage of Figaro

Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...

, which was written at the same time and premiered later the same year.

There are only four vocal numbers in the score, and the musical content (about 30 minutes, including the overture) is surrounded by much spoken dialogue, topical in its day. In modern times, the text is usually completely rewritten.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, February 7, 1786 (Conductor: — )
Frank, an impresario	spoken role	Johann Gottlieb Stephanie Jr. Gottlieb Stephanie Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger was an Austrian playwright, director and librettist, most famously to Mozart. He came to Vienna during the Seven Years' War as a Prussian prisoner of war...
Eiler, a banker	spoken role	Johann Franz Hieronymus Brockmann
Buff, a buffo singer	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Joseph Weidmann
Monsieur Vogelsang, a singer	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Valentin Adamberger Valentin Adamberger Valentin Adamberger, also known by his Italian name Adamonti, was a German operatic tenor...
Madame Herz, a singer	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Aloysia Weber Aloysia Weber Maria Aloysia Louise Antonia Weber was a German soprano, remembered primarily for her association with the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-Biography:...
Mademoiselle Silberklang, a singer	soprano	Catarina Cavalieri
Herz, an actor	spoken role	Joseph Lange Joseph Lange Joseph Lange was an actor and amateur painter of the 18th century. Through his marriage to Aloysia Weber, he was the brother-in-law of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-Life:...
Madame Pfeil, an actress	spoken role	Anna Maria Stephanie
Madame Krone, an actress	spoken role	Johanna Sacco
Madame Vogelsang, an actress	spoken role	Maria Anna Adamberger Maria Anna Adamberger Maria Anna Adamberger , born Jaquet, was an Austrian actress. She was known for her roles in various comedies, while her sister Katharina Adamberger preferred tragic roles...

Noted arias

• "Bester Jüngling" — Madame Silberklang
• "Da schlägt des Abschieds Stunde" — Madame Herz

External links

• Synopsis from Stanford University
  Stanford University
  The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
  
  
• Libretto