Meisl was born in Ljubljana (at that time in the Hapsburg Monarchy) in 1775, and was educated there.
His first play, Carolo Carolina, appeared in 1802, and his last, Die blonden Locken, in 1844.
[2] Together with the dramatists Josef Alois Gleich (1772–1841) and Adolf Bäuerle (1786–1859), he was important during a period in Old Viennese folk theatre [de], after the earlier Hanswurst-theatre and before the folk theatre of Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy.
[3] His plays were mostly performed in the Theater in der Leopoldstadt in Vienna; leading roles were played by Ferdinand Raimund, Ignaz Schuster [de], Friedrich Josef Korntheuer [de], Carl Carl, Johann Nestroy and Wenzel Scholz.
[1] Meisl wrote the text of the cantata Die Weihe des Hauses (The Consecration of the House), for which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the overture; it was written to celebrate the re-opening in October 1822 of the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna, rebuilt by Karl Friedrich Hensler.