About the work
A farce with songs in three acts by Johann Nestroy, based on the French vaudeville "La Jolie Fille du faubourg" (1840), with music by Adolf Müller; it premiered on 24 November 1841 at the Theater an der Wien.
Plot
The small-time agent Schnoferl mediates between the wealthy widow Frau von Erbsenstein, who is to marry young Gigl, and Gigl’s secret love for the embroiderer Thecla, whose father is suspected of stealing from his employer Kauz. Schnoferl uncovers that Kauz staged the theft himself, blackmails him into paying compensation, and in the end brings Gigl together with Thecla, and himself with Frau von Erbsenstein.
Cultural significance
With 81 performances by 1862, the play became one of Nestroy’s greatest successes; critics praised his verbal wit, though some objected to the French origin of the plot rather than an originally Viennese story.