About the work
Das verwunschene Schloss (The Enchanted Castle) is an operetta in five scenes by Carl Millöcker to a libretto by Alois Berla. It premiered on 30 March 1878 at the Theater an der Wien, with Alexander Girardi as Andredl, a role to which Millöcker dedicated the work.
Plot
In a Tyrolean village around 1780, the nearby castle is believed to be haunted because lights and figures appear there at night — in truth, the banished Count of Geiersburg has secretly returned to celebrate there with friends. The farmhand Seppl, engaged to Mirzl, is dismissed for not sharing the villagers' belief in ghosts and enters the castle with his friend Andredl. The singer Coralie uses the ensuing confusion to persuade the count to marry her, hoping this will secure his pardon; in the end Seppl and Mirzl, as well as Andredl and the forest witch's granddaughter Regerl, are united.
Cultural significance
Das verwunschene Schloss became Millöcker's first major stage success and an international hit in 1878, marking his turn toward musically more ambitious operetta.