Kleider machen Leute is a comic 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...

 in a prologue and two acts by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky. The libretto was written by Leo Feld

Leo Feld

Leo Feld was an Austrian librettist, dramaturge, stage director, and writer. He also worked as a translator for publishing companies, and was notably responsible for translating many of Charles Dickens' English language works for their first German language publications.Born with the name Leo...

, based on the short novel by Gottfried Keller

Gottfried Keller

Gottfried Keller , a Swiss writer of German-language literature, was best known for his novel Green Henry .- Life and work :...

.

Composition and performance history

Zemlinsky started work on the opera in 1907, and completed a three-act version in 1909. He made revisions in 1910, reducing the number of acts to two. This first version was premiered at the Vienna Volksoper

Vienna Volksoper

The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....

 on 2 December 1910.

For a revival in Prague in 1922, Zemlinsky made further revisions. This second (and final) version was premiered at the Neues Deutsches Theater

Prague State Opera

The Prague State Opera , is an opera and ballet company in Prague, Czech Republic. The theatre was originally founded in 1888 as the New German Theatre and from 1949 to 1989 it was known as the Smetana Theatre....

 in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 on 20 April 1922. The score is published by Universal Edition

Universal Edition

Universal Edition is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, and originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market...

 Vienna.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast First version Vienna, 2 December 1910 (Conductor: )	Premiere Cast Second version Prague, 20 April 1922 (Conductor: Alexander Zemlinsky)
Wenzel Strapinski, a tailor's apprentice from Seldwyla	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...		Richard Kubla Richard Kubla Richard Kubla was a Czech tenor who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and recitals from 1910-1945...
First tailor's apprentice, Wenzel's friend	tenor
Second tailor's apprentice, Wenzel's friend	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Administrator (Der Amtsrat)	baritone
Nettchen, his daughter	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...		Maria Müller Maria Müller Maria Müller was a Czech-Austrian operatic soprano.Müller was born in Terezín, Bohemia. She studied in Vienna with Erik Schmedes, and debuted in Linz in 1919 as Elsa in Lohengrin...
Melchior Böhni	baritone
Kutscher	baritone
Litumlei	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...
Federspiel	tenor
Häberlein	tenor
Innkeeper	baritone
Pütschli	baritone

Prologue

On a provincial road, Wenzel Strapinski (a tailor's apprentice) is saying goodbye to two of his colleague friends. Suddenly, a magnificent carriage stops next to him. The coachman takes Wenzel to Goldach, introduces him there as a count, and then disappears.

Act 1

The citizens of Goldach admire the newcomer. The administrator and his daughter Nettchen join them. Only Melchior Böhni, who is in love with Nettchen but was rejected by her, is suspicious.

Act 2

Strapinski loves Nettchen, but is in two minds about the deceit. When he decides to leave, Nettchen stops him. His rival Böhni then exposes Strapinski as an impostor. Strapinski convinces the people of Goldach who treated him as a count, that his only motive for playing along was his love for Nettchen. When he wants to leave, Nettchen stops him again, declaring that if she can not be a countess, she will gladly be the wife of a master tailor.