About the work
A one-act prelude by Johann Nestroy, premiered on 5 December 1834 at the Theater an der Wien as the opening piece for a benefit performance for Wenzel Scholz. The short play plays on the contemporary fascination with the new railway technology.
Plot
A castle household is preparing a play for the arrival of its master, and whoever comes up with the best idea will win the forester’s daughter’s hand. But the expected troupe of actors misses the departure of the steam carriage, and only a theatre servant arrives, reporting that most of the script collection was burned as fuel aboard the carriage. From the surviving fragments, the household hastily assembles a quodlibet of its own.
Cultural significance
Contemporary critics found the prelude weak, but its 1840 reworking as "Die zusammengestoppelte Komödie" became one of the more durable pieces in the Theater an der Wien repertoire, with more than 30 performances in that year alone.