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Zauberstücke (magic drama), also known as Zauberspiele, constituted one of the principal dramatic genres in the Viennese Volkstheater (popular theater) in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These suburban theaters, which arose as alternatives to the court theater, appealed to the broad mass of the populace below the educated bourgeoisie, but they also attracted members of the nobility, the middle classes, and foreign tourists. The Volkstheater, whose productions were created through a close cooperation and interaction among theatrical producers, actors, authors, and the public, had its roots in a combination of elements from the Baroque tradition, which survived longer in Austria than in most other parts of Europe, and the comedy of traveling players in the manner of commedia dell’arte. Baroque theatrical productions included the didactic Jesuit plays, which attempted to show how metaphysical powers, represented by saints and allegorical figures as well as by ancient gods and magical figures, guide human life, and court operas, which provided music and elaborate visual spectacles. Plays evolving from these traditions received an indigenous quality through the introduction of the comic, especially through language and localized characters such as Hanswurst and Kasperle. These different influences resulted in a wide variety of overlapping genres in the offerings of the Volkstheater from its beginnings in 1712 through the period following the revolution of 1848. Such offerings included the extemporaneous Stegreifkomödie (improvisational comedy), whose spontaneous wit and sometimes coarse humor caused difficulties for the censors and the proponents of a more uplifting type of literature who wished to ban the Hanswurst from the stage; the Singspiele, or musicals, which provided entertainment through the addition of songs; various forms of Parodie, which made fun of existing models in literature and mythology; the Posse, or farce, often based on plots from French and other foreign sources; the Besserungsstücke, or plays of moral betterment, in which a character learns to overcome his flaws and reintegrate himself into society; the Lokalstück, or local-color play, which incorporated specifics from the immediate environment; and the Zauberstücke, which combined magic and mythological figures with the elaborate sets of the Maschinenkomödie (machine comedy). These genres did not have fixed limits and displayed constant development: moreover, there was much overlap within individual plays. In fact, the Zauberstücke combined elements from many or all of these genres.