Alfonso und Estrella

In close collaboration with von Schober in the region of Sankt Pölten, Schubert wrote the vocal numbers of Alfonso und Estrella between September 1821 and February 1822.

[1][2] Schober, only one year older than the young Schubert, and a dabbler in literature, music and theatre, was enthusiastic about the collaboration.

This influence may have led to the omission of all spoken dialog, parting from the German Singspiel form followed in operas such as Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Beethoven's Fidelio, and Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz.

In the earlier publications, including those of its piano versions, the overture had been marked as belonging to Alfonso und Estrella.

[2] Although it is believed Schubert intended to compose a grand Romantic opera, employing a large chorus and orchestra, at many points in the work he retained the simpler style of his earlier Singspiels.

McKay has noted that, "[i]n such sections Schubert shows not only his genius for setting words to music and his sensitivity to orchestral colors but also his ability to manage the large resources of big operatic ensembles.

"[3] As one critic has elegantly stated, "Schubert's great operatic asset – aside from his incredible gift for melody – was the ability to take cues from a word, a thought or a verbal description and translate them into musical accompaniment.

[11] Elizabeth Norman McKay has noted how Schubert incorporated his understanding of the music of Gioachino Rossini into the opera.

German musicologist Till Gerrit Waidelich has published a monograph on the opera, detailing its history in composition and performance.

[15] A complete recording of the opera was issued in 1978, with Otmar Suitner conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin and Berlin Radio Choir and major parts sung by Edith Mathis (Estrella), Peter Schreier (Alfonso), Hermann Prey (Mauregato), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Froila) and Theo Adam (Adolfo).