About the work
Parodying magic farce in two acts by Johann Nestroy, first performed on 9 October 1833 at the Theater an der Wien with music by Adolf Müller senior. Director Carl Carl asked Nestroy to target Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera 'Robert le diable', then the talk of Vienna, instead of a planned parody of Ernst Raupach's stage version of the same material, and Nestroy relocated the story to a Viennese suburban world.
Plot
Robert gambles away his fortune at cards and ninepins against the demonic agent Bertram, while the father of his fiancée Isabella demands that he mend his ways. Bertram tempts Robert with a spell over a golden tap, but Reimboderl and Liserl save him from damnation at the last moment. Once repentant, Robert wins Isabella's hand while Bertram receives his punishment in the underworld.
Cultural significance
With 70 performances by 1853, the play was one of Nestroy's successful opera parodies; it depended largely on Nestroy himself playing Bertram, and shows how he made grand Parisian opera material accessible to a suburban audience.