About the work
Die Schweizer Familie is a lyric opera (Singspiel) in three acts by Joseph Weigl, with a libretto by Ignaz Franz Castelli based on the French vaudeville "Pauvre Jacques" (1807) by Sewrin and René de Chazet. It premiered on 14 March 1809 at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, conducted by Weigl himself.
Plot
Emmeline, daughter of the Swiss farmer Richard Boll, is secretly engaged to the shepherd Jakob but suffers under their forced separation from family and homeland. A count whose life was once saved by Boll's father helps reunite the family and clear the way for the lovers' happiness.
Cultural significance
The opera was among the most successful German-language stage works of its time and remained in the repertoire of numerous European theatres into the 1830s; Ignaz Moscheles wrote piano variations on themes from the work.