The libretto by Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1607–1658), first published 1644 in the fourth part of his Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele, is based on the schoolplay Ein gar schön geistliches Waldgetichte genant Die glückseelige Seele of 1637, itself translated from L'anima felice favola boschareccia by the Italian Nicolò Negri (1606).
On the surface, the work seems to be a typical Christian allegory of the soul's journey through this world and the symbolic action takes place in a pastoral setting.
[2] Nonetheless, recent inquiries[3] which account for the context of the libretto in Harsdörffer's Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele have pointed out several problems of a seamless allegoresis.
Künsteling, Ehrelob, Reichimuth and Sinnigunda ply Seelewig with gifts (a telescope, a fishing rod, a bow and arrow and a crown of flowers).
Seelewig takes fright during a storm and sings a song asking advice from the forest echo, which warns her to flee the snares of this world.