Published by Primary Source Microfilm

Previous title: German and Austrian Drama

Based on the holdings of the Houghton Library at Harvard University, The Viennese Theatre, 1740-1790 contains approximately 2,500 items forming a valuable record of the development of the Viennese theater from 1740 to 1800. The major portion of this collection is composed of titles from Viennese dealer Michael Krieg and bound in the late 18th century in 385 tract volumes that were part of an Austrian Schlossbibliothek. Harvard has incorporated about 500 additional works into the Krieg collection and these are also included on the microfilm.

Scholars using The Viennese Theatre, 1740-1790 will find a wealth of plays and opera libretti in German, French and Italian printed in Austria, Germany and Switzerland during this 60-year span. This collection is significant for its inclusion of rare works by such obscure authors as Anton Jacob Brenner, Maximilian Scholz, Christoph Friedrich Bretzner and Christian Gottlob Korb, but will also be desired for its first editions of such major works as:

• Lessing's Die alte Jungfer
• Klinger's Sturm und Drang
• Bodmer's Politische Schauspiele
• C.M Wieland's Clementina von Porretta
• Klopstock's Der Tod Adams

The collection also includes plays by foreign playwrights intended for Viennese production, such as works by Goldoni, Metastasio and Zeno in Italian and by Legrand, Marivaux and Regnard in French. Many of these foreign works, including some by English authors, have also been translated into German.

The Viennese Theatre, 1740-1790 provides access to rare works published in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and supplies an accurate historical record of Viennese theater for this period.

113 reels