“Opera buffa als »wahre romantische Oper« Die romantisch-ironische Mozart-Rezeption um 1800,” Musik & Ästhetik Nr. 111 (Juli 2024): 33-46.

Opera buffa as »true romantic opera«. The romantic-ironic reception of Mozart around 1800 – In the conventional historiography of early nineteenth-century German-language opera, the aesthetic beliefs of the early Romantic German poets often play a significant role. This article points out that their aesthetic explanations were not actually predictions for future operas, but rather the result of their reflection on the Opera buffas of the eighteenth century, especially those by Mozart. To elucidate the Romantic image of Mozart reflected in his Opera buffas, this text first outlines the poetic and artistic perspectives on irony and humor of the early Romantic writers (Friedrich Schlegel, Jean Paul, Ludwig Tieck), as well as their aesthetic connections to Mozart’s Opera buffas. Subsequently, this article highlights the positive reactions that romantic irony elicited among German music criticism and German composers. Only then does the significance of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s idea of opera in the Romantic reception of Mozart and Mozart’s often overlooked influence on subsequent times become clear.