Der Schauspieldirektor

[The Impresario]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Singspiel in one act. 1786.

Libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie the younger.

First performance at the Orangerie, Schönbrunn, Vienna, on 7th February 1786.

CHARACTERS

The impresario Herr Frank has high artistic standards, but the actor Buff, engaged by him, announces that permission has been granted for performances in Salzburg, where, it seems, anything goes. Actors and actresses are auditioned in a series of dramatic excerpts, and the jealous anger of the old- fashioned tragic actress Mme Krone is provoked when a higher fee is offered to Mme Vogelsang. The actor Herz introduces his wife, who sings an expressive aria. Mme Silberklang deigns to audition and is engaged at the same fee as Mme Herz and the title prima donna, now claimed by Mme Herz. The singer Vogelsang tries to mollify them. Eventually, after complaints from the actresses and the intervention of Mme Pfeil's banker friend, they agree to accept the fees offered and the singers add a final vaudeville, joined in the end by Buff, no great singer but a buffo (comic) actor.

The Emperor Joseph II arranged, early in 1786, an entertainment for his sister, the Archduchess Christine Marie, and her husband, Duke Albrecht Kasimir of Sachsen-Teschen, Governors-General of the Austrian Netherlands. In the Orangery at the palace of Schönbrunn there was a stage at each end of the room, separated by the dining-table of the 82 guests. Mozart's Singspiel was performed after the banquet by the German company, followed by the Italian company in Salieri's comic Prima la musica, poi le parole (First the Music then the Words), both works dealing, in one way or another, with back- stage intrigue. Mozart's work opens with a lively overture. Mme Herz shows her prowess in the aria Da schlägt des Abschieds Stunde (The hour of the vespers strike), rivalled by Mme Silberklang's Bester Jüngling (Best of boys), a virtuoso declaraton of love in spite of everything. The quarrelsome trio Ich bin die erste Sängerin (I am the prima donna) leads, in the end, to the final Heder Künstler strebt nach Ehre (Every artist strives for honour).