About the work
A four-act Posse with songs by Johann Nestroy, premiered on 22 April 1835 at the Theater an der Wien, with music by Adolf Müller senior. Nestroy wrote the title role for his stage partner Wenzel Scholz and took the part of Natzi himself. It was based on Matthäus Stegmayer's play of the same name from 1808.
Plot
The miller Mehlwurm wants to marry his ward Lenchen himself, though she loves the huntsman Heinrich. The trickster Eulenspiegel arrives, promises to help the lovers, and worms his way into Mehlwurm's household under a false identity. When the landowner von Nelkenstein bets he can outwit Eulenspiegel, a chain of disguises and pranks unfolds that finally lets Heinrich and Lenchen marry.
Cultural significance
The play stayed in repertory until Nestroy's death and reached around 140 performances. The character has little to do with the historical Till Eulenspiegel legend; scholars place it instead in the Hanswurst and Kasperl tradition of the Viennese Volkstheater.