SCHUBERT Die Zauberharfe / Rosamunde Overture ( / ) Score and Analysis

“Die Zauberharfe” or “The Magic Harp” () is a melodrama in three acts written by Franz Schubert based on a text by Georg von Hofmann. The play was first performed on 19 August 1820 at the Theater an der Wien but was not a critical success and was pulled after eight performances. Much of the text is now lost so the work cannot be performed on stage, although Schubert’s incidental music of 13 numbers survives. “Rosamunde” () is a play by Helmina von Chézy for which Schubert composed incidental music. It premiered on 20 December 1823, also at the Theater an der Wien. The story concerns the attempt of Rosamunde, who was brought up incognito as a shepherdess by the mariner’s widow Axa, to reclaim her throne. Due to time constraints Schubert did not write an original overture for “Rosamunde” and so for the original stage production used the overture from “Alfonso und Estrella” (), an earlier opera for which he thought the overture was too ‘noisy’ and intended to write a new one