On Sale Now • Bard SummerScape 2026

Bard Music Festival

Program Four • Theatrical Life in Vienna: Hanswurst, Leporello, and Papageno

August 9

Add to Calendar2026-08-09 11:00 am2026-08-09 11:00 amEDTProgram Four • Theatrical Life in Vienna: Hanswurst, Leporello, and PapagenoOlin Hall,

In a thoughtfully curated concert with commentary, Program Four, “Theatrical Life in Vienna: Hanswurst, Leporello, and Papageno,” scholar Lisa de Alwis investigates the popular Viennese theater traditions that inspired two of Mozart’s best-loved comic characters: Don Giovanni’s Leporello and The Magic Flute’s Papageno. The prototype for both roles was Hanswurst (“Jack Sausage”), a crafty but simple stock character, used for comic relief. Selections will be heard from The Philosopher’s Stone (“Der Stein der Weisen”), a Singspiel based on the same fairy tales as The Magic Flute, and collaboratively created by the same team, with music by Mozart in tandem with Emanuel Schikaneder (The Magic Flute’s commissioner, librettist, and first Papageno), Benedikt Schack (its first Tamino), Franz Xaver Gerl (its first Sarastro), and Johann Baptist Henneberg (its first conductor). Other excerpted works include The Nymph of the Danube (“Das Donauweibchen”), one of the most popular operas of the day, by the prolific Austrian composer Ferdinand Kauer.

Program

11 am • Performance with commentary, with Aaron Blake, tenor; Lisa Marie Rogali, mezzo-soprano; Devon Russo, baritone; Anna Polonsky, piano; and others

Works by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756–91); Ferdinand Kauer (1751–1831); Johann Baptist Henneberg (1768–1822); Emanuel Schikaneder (1751–1812); Paul Wranitzky (1756–1808); Josepha Auernhammer (1758–1820); and others

Artwork: Papageno in front of the sun temple, The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, stage design; colored copper engraving, 1793. Credit: INTERFOTO / History; Alamy

Plan Your Visit