About the work
Die Zwillingsbrüder is a one-act "farce with songs" composed by Franz Schubert in 1819 to a libretto by Georg von Hofmann, based on the French vaudeville "Les deux Valentin" by Désaugiers and Gentil de Chavagnac. The work was commissioned by Vienna's Kärntnertortheater, where it premiered on 14 June 1820.
Plot
The farmer Franz Spieß had promised Lieschen's father he would marry her if he returned with a dowry by her eighteenth birthday. When his twin brother, believed dead, turns up on that very day, mistaken identity throws the village into turmoil until everything is resolved and Lieschen is free to marry the man she actually loves, Anton.
Cultural significance
Unlike most of Schubert's operas, Die Zwillingsbrüder was performed during the composer's own lifetime; after its 1820 premiere, however, the work soon fell into obscurity, and critics have since pointed to a mismatch between its rather slight comic plot and Schubert's refined music.