Gottlieb Stephanie

Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger (19 February 1741 – 23 January 1800) was an Austrian playwright, director and librettist, most famously to Mozart.

Engraved portrait of Gottlieb Stephanie

Stephanie was born in Breslau, Prussia, but came to Vienna during the Seven Years' War as a Prussian prisoner of war. He was appointed to head the National Singspiel, a favourite project of Emperor Joseph II. He died in Vienna, aged 58.

Stephanie's adaptation of Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's Entführung has been harshly criticized; E. J. Dent called it "the very worst that he ever set to music." Mozart wrote to his father saying that "you are quite right so far as Stephanie's work is concerned. ... I am well aware that the verse is not of the best."[1]

In 1769 Stephanie adapted Shakespeare's Macbeth to suit popular taste in Vienna. It was performed in the 1770s.[2]

Works

Die Entführung aus dem Serail, 1782, Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Der Schauspieldirektor, 1786, Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Doktor und Apotheker, 1786, Music: Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf[3]

References

Notes

Boerner 1998
Williams, Simon. Shakespeare on the German Stage, Vol. 1 1586-1914. Cambridge, 1990.
"DFG-Viewer: Version 3.0". Nbn-resolving.de. Retrieved 10 August 2014.

Sources

Boerner, Steve (1998). "K. 384, Die Entführung aus dem Serail". The Mozart Project. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.

External links

Gottlieb Stephanie in the German National Library catalogue

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[1] Boerner 1998

[2] Williams, Simon. Shakespeare on the German Stage, Vol. 1 1586-1914. Cambridge, 1990.

[3] "DFG-Viewer: Version 3.0". Nbn-resolving.de. Retrieved 10 August 2014.