This chapter provides an overview of the history, habits, and musico-dramatic conventions of German comic opera in German courtly theaters, the Burgtheater and Kärtnertortheater, and the three suburban theaters: the Theater in der Leopoldstadt, Theater auf der Wieden, and the Theater in der Josephstadt. Arguing for a transnational development of German opera, it delves deeply into paradigmatic examples of key moments in courtly and suburban theatrical life: Ignaz Umlauf’s Die Bergknappen (1778) and its relationship to resource extraction and mining in late eighteenth-century Vienna; Wranitzky’s Oberon (1789) and elements of magic opera in dialogue and in song; and finally, comic antics in Wenzel Müller’s Kaspar der Fagottist (1791).

The Magic Flute was written specifically for the Freihaus Theater auf der Wieden. As such, it is useful to consider the physical aspects and the history of the building as well as some of the other repertory that was performed there around the same time. When we include works that were performed in the Theater in der Leopoldstadt under the direction of Karl Marinelli – Schikaneder’s main rival – we can see that they share some musical and theatrical aspects of The Magic Flute. Plot lines or character types that found favor with audiences were reproduced in various works at both suburban theaters, allowing a faster creative process and resulting in a somewhat formulaic product. This adds to the notion that while The Magic Flute is certainly an exceptional work, it was, nevertheless, significantly influenced by the popular entertainment common in Viennese theaters of the eighteenth century.

This chapter provides the readers with a reassessment of the Stuart masque. In order to have a broader perception of the Stuart masque texts themselves, Barroll contrasts them with the livrets of a number of ballets presented at the contemporary courts of France. Then, turning to Jonson, Barroll observes that if one considers the literary values in the printed texts of Ben Jonson’s masques, they emerge as uneven records of his oeuvre. The poet’s various attempts to influence the transmission of his masques have affected our assumptions about them. Barroll pays specific attention to the transmission history of Oberon and Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly, first printed, with four others, in Jonson’s 1616 Folio. Beyond our sense of Jonson’s inclination to present all his F1 masques not as multi-dimensional spectacles but as literary endeavors, another factor may well have contributed to this great difference in detail between the Oberon and Love Freed texts, Barroll suggests. This was the changed atmosphere of the 1615 as opposed to the 1610 Stuart court.