About the work
A comic-romantic magic opera in three acts, freely based on Johann Karl August Musäus's fairy tale of the same name; Lortzing completed the score on 14 March 1849 and conducted the premiere himself on 25 May 1849 at the Stadttheater Leipzig. It was his last completed full-length opera.
Plot
Three squires of the fallen hero Roland wander the world after his death; unlike Musäus's tale, in which they set out to war again to avenge Roland, Lortzing gives the plot a happy ending. Written as a trouser role for soprano, the title character Andiol wins freedom for her companions and for Isalda through courage and love of truth, against the foolish King Garsias.
Cultural significance
Under pressure from the censors, the libretto had to be defused; Lortzing used the material to respond to the failed revolution of 1848/49, wrapping his critique of the Prussian authoritarian state in a fairy-tale guise. At the premiere he was called out after every act.