About the work
Farce with songs in three acts by Johann Nestroy, first performed on 13 April 1839 at the Theater an der Wien as a benefit performance for Nestroy's partner Marie Weiler; the music was written by Adolf Müller senior. Theatre scholar Otto Rommel later counted the play among the model examples of the Old Viennese folk theatre's 'parodying farce', in which a piece conceived as parody develops a comic life of its own.
Plot
The plot's thread is the abduction of a child, which sets off a chain of misunderstandings and complications. At its centre stands the battle of the sexes, above all the motif of jealousy: the woodcutter Lorenz flies into a rage over what he believes is an encounter between his beloved and a rival. Only when, on the fateful carnival night of the title, a laundry basket is mixed up with the basket holding the child does everything resolve happily, and the child is restored to its parents.
Cultural significance
With 83 performances by 1860, the play was one of Nestroy's most successful works and is regarded as one of his first 'master farces', combining a comedy of mistaken identity with a shrewd wit about jealousy.