Theater auf der Wieden

It existed for only 14 years (1787–1801), but during this time it was the venue for the premiere of no fewer than 350 theatrical works,[1] of which the most celebrated was Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.

It was located at the northern edge of the Wiedner suburb, separated from the inner city by the "Glacis", the ring of open land that surrounded inner Vienna for purposes of military defense.

"[11] Examining the plays and librettos of Emanuel Schikaneder, Buch infers "a mechanical stage with three trap doors, movable flats and backdrops, and devices to accommodate flying machines, storms, sea battles, and similar effects.

Rossbach's venture lasted only a few months and ended in financial failure, despite a dispensation from the Emperor to perform during Lent.

"[14] Following Friedel's death, Eleonore reconciled with her husband and invited him to take on the directorship,[15] which he held from July 1789 until the theater's closure in June 1801.

The company offered "mostly German operas and plays with songs and incidental music (tragedies, comedies, and spectacles with elaborate stage machinery)".

[19] It gave rise to a sequel by Schikaneder and Peter von Winter (1798) entitled The Magic Flute Second Part.

[24] (Specifically, it was presented as part of Mozart's decline that he was reduced to writing for a grossly inferior theater not affiliated with the court.)

In 1840, he wrote a contribution to the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (12/46, 5 June 1840) in which he described the Theater an der Wieden in rather derogatory terms: "... for that limited venue, not much better than a wooden shack [German Holzbude], Mozart composed his immortal Magic Flute".

Of the legend, Kurt Honolka writes: The loss of prestige which Schikaneder suffered at the end of the 19th century also extended to "his" theater.