ABSTRACT
Not all operas produced in Vienna in the decade after Die Zauberflöte embraced the risqué viewpoints of Schikaneder, Hensler, Perinet, and other authors working for the suburban theaters. More serious treatment of moral issues marks the majority of Singspiele produced at the court theater. These works, however, date only from the second half of the decade, since the court theater performed mainly Italian opera prior to the creation of a new German opera company in the spring of 1795. From the beginning, the new company was in fierce competition with the suburban theaters, and morality became an important element of the theatrical debates and the struggle for audiences and revenues. The struggle became even fiercer due to the economic strains resulting from Austrian military defeats in the wars against Revolutionary France. Moreover, the new Singspiel troupe operated under a new, semi-private administrative system: in 1794 emperor Franz II leased the court theater to the banker Peter Braun (since 1795 Baron Peter von Braun) and thus relinquished the direct control the court executed over the theater during the previous two decades.1
