''Die Geisterinsel'' is a

singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk- ...

in 3 acts by Johann Friedrich Reichardt to a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter based on ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 nation ...

. The libretto by Gotter, after an earlier version by his friend , had already been hailed as a masterpiece by

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and first set by Friedrich Fleischmann in May 1798 for the Ducal Court Theatre in Weimar. Goethe also promoted Fleischmann's setting, but the opera was not a success. The years 1798 to 1799 saw six more operas based on ''The Tempest'', of which Reichardt's, commissioned by August Wilhelm Iffland for the Nationaltheater, Berlin, was both the most successful and the most successful of Reichardt's operas as a whole. It was premiered 6 July 1798.

References

External links

* Operas by Johann Friedrich Reichardt 1796 operas Operas German-language operas Operas based on The Tempest Commissioned music {{German-opera-stub