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

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. He was taken prisoner by the Austrian forces in the

Battle of Landeshut (1760) The Battle of Landeshut was an engagement fought on 23 June 1760 during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). A Prussian army of 12,000 men under General Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué fought an Austrian army of over 28,000 ...

in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

. After nine months of imprisonment in

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the p ...

, he joined the Imperial Army and went to Vienna after the war ended. He was appointed to head the National Singspiel, a favourite project of Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

. Stephanie's adaptation of Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's '' Belmont und Constanze'' has been harshly criticized; E. J. Dent called it "the very worst that he ever set to music". Mozart wrote to his father, "you are quite right so far as Stephanie's work is concerned. ... I am well aware that the verse is not of the best." In 1769 Stephanie adapted

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's '' Macbeth'' to suit popular taste in Vienna. It was performed in the 1770s.

Personal life

Stephanie's original surname was Stephan. He and his older brother, Christian Gottlob Stephanie (1733 – 10 April 1798) changed it to Stephanie. Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger married Anna Maria Mika (1751, Stiahlau, Bohemia – 2 February 1802, Vienna), an actress who debuted on 27 April 1771 at the Burgtheater. The couple had a daughter, , also an actress. Gottlieb Stephanie died in Vienna, aged 58.

Works

* ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...

'', 1782, Music:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

* ''

Der Schauspieldirektor ' (''The Impresario''), K. 486, is a comic ''singspiel'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, set to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian ''Schauspieldirektor''. Originally, it was written because of "the imperial command" of the Holy Rom ...

'', 1786, Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * '' Doktor und Apotheker'', 1786, Music:

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (2 November 1739 – 24 October 1799) was an Austrian composer, violinist, and silvologist. He was a friend of both Haydn and Mozart. (webpage has a translation button) Life 1739–1764 Dittersdorf was born in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephanie, Johann Gottlieb 18th-century Austrian people Austrian opera librettists Austrian male dramatists and playwrights Austrian people of German descent Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's librettists Writers from Wrocław 1741 births 1800 deaths 18th-century composers 18th-century male musicians