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

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

. Stephanie was born in Breslau,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. 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 28,0 ...

in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. After nine months of imprisonment in

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) 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 population is 61,887. Together wit ...

, he joined the Imperial Army and went to Vienna after the war ended. He was appointed to head the National

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- ...

, a favourite project of Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

. Stephanie's adaptation of Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''

Belmont und Constanze ("Belmonte and Constance, or The Abduction from the Seraglio") by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner is a libretto, published in 1781, telling the story of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, attempting to rescue his beloved 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 ( 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 natio ...

's ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' 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 Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

– 2 February 1802, Vienna), an actress who debuted on 27 April 1771 at the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

. The couple had a daughter, , also an actress. Gottlieb Stephanie died in Vienna, aged 58.

Works

* ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () (Köchel catalogue, 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 . The plot concer ...

'', 1782, Music:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

* ''

Der Schauspieldirektor ' (''The Impresario''), Köchel catalogue, 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 ...

'', 1786, Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * ''

Doktor und Apotheker (''Doctor and Apothecary'') is a German-language two-act singspiel by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, with a libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on the anonymous French comedy ''L'apothicaire de Murcie'' (The Apothecary of ...

'', 1786, Music:

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (2 November 1739 – 24 October 1799) was an Austrian composer and violinist. He was a friend of both Haydn and Mozart. (webpage has a translation button) His best-known works include the German singspiel '' Doktor un ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephanie, Johann Gottlieb 18th-century Austrian people Dramatists and playwrights from the Holy Roman Empire 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