About the work
Grand Romantic opera in two acts by Heinrich Marschner to a libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrück, first performed on 29 March 1828 at the Stadttheater Leipzig. Wohlbrück drew on Heinrich Ludwig Ritter's play 'Der Vampyr oder die Todten-Braut' (1822), itself based on John Polidori's story 'The Vampyre' (1819).
Plot
Lord Ruthwen, doomed to be a vampire, must sacrifice three virgin brides to the devil within 24 hours to extend his life by another year. He successively targets Janthe and Emmy before turning to Malwina, the betrothed of his friend Aubry. During the wedding ceremony his deadline expires, and he is struck by lightning and dragged down to hell.
Cultural significance
Music historians place the opera between the style of Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner's early stage works, as Marschner loosens the closed number-opera form in favour of longer through-composed sections. The work became Marschner's greatest contemporary success and remains his most frequently performed opera; Hans Pfitzner produced a revised version in 1924.