About the work
A comic opera (Spieloper) in one act; Lortzing freely adapted the libretto from Philippe Poisson's 1733 French comedy "L'Impromptu de campagne," which Johann Friedrich Jünger had translated into German in 1794 as "Die Komödie aus dem Stegreif." Composed in 1850 while Lortzing directed the Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater in Berlin, it premiered on 20 January 1851 in Frankfurt am Main.
Plot
At a count's castle, a company of amateurs, including servants, rehearse for an opera performance. An unknown nobleman who has fled an arranged marriage falls in love with Louise, the count's daughter. Only through the rehearsal's mix-ups does it emerge that Louise is exactly the bride his uncle had once arranged for him.
Cultural significance
On the night of the Frankfurt premiere, Lortzing suffered a stroke at home in Berlin and died the following morning. "Die Opernprobe" thus became the last of his works to be premiered during his lifetime.