Gretchen

Like Hector Berlioz or Richard Wagner, Lortzing is one of the literary composers who wrote practically all of their texts themselves. Like all of Lortzing’s works, Der Wildschütz is based on disguise, confusion and role play, that is to say on basic elements of theater itself. With this work he succeeds in a musical comedy with a few social swipes at the still ruling nobles and the Biedermeier period. The music always sounds relaxed and cheerful throughout the opera, despite the hidden social criticism.