Der Schauspieldirektor
Komödie mit Musik KV 486, 1786
Der Schauspieldirektor (“The Impresario”) was composed in the spring of 1786 to fulfill a commission from Joseph II for performance during a visit to Vienna by the Governor-General of the Netherlands. The visitors were meant to be entertained with a short German and an Italian musical comedy during a festival arranged on short notice in Schönbrunn Palace. The choice of composers fell to Mozart and Salieri. Both pieces spoofed the theatrical practices of the day. Der Schauspieldirektor, by Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, has a loosely-constructed plot that hinges on the vanity of opera singers and the empty-headedness of many traveling companies. Frank Lustig wants to create a new theatrical troupe, for which Herr Eiler is willing to supply money, but only on condition that his lady friend is allowed to join. In the course of the piece, appearances are made by other ladies with resonant names who want to be retained as singers and who attempt to outdo each other until reason is allowed to prevail.
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Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
| 1756-1791As the son of the deputy Kapellmeister to the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop, Mozart was constantly surrounded by church music in his youth. On his travels Mozart became familiar with Italian church music, and later in Vienna he studied the works of Bach and Handel. After moving to Vienna he was faced with the new challenges of composing opera and piano concertos, and significantly the “C Minor Mass” KV 427, the greatest sacred work of the first Vienna years, remained unfinished. The last period of his life again shows a change of direction to church music: Mozart successfully applied to succeed the terminally ill Leopold Hoffmann as Kapellmeister at St Stephen's Cathedral, but he was unable to take up the position as he died before Hoffmann. A gem such as the “Ave verum” KV 618 and the incomplete Requiem KV 626 give us an idea of what Mozart might have achieved as a composer of sacred music if he had taken up this important position. Personal details
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Editor
Ulrich Leisinger
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Songwriter / Librettist
Johann Gottfried Stephanie der Jüngere
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