(German for The Philosopher's Stone, or the Enchanted Isle) is a singspiel in two acts, jointly composed by Johann Baptist Henneberg, Benedikt Schack, Franz Xaver Gerl, Emanuel Schikaneder, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1790. The libretto was written by Schikaneder.
Composition Der Stein der Weisen was composed using a "team approach" in which each composer contributed individual sections of the piece. All five wrote parts of act 2, and all except Mozart wrote parts of act 1. Henneberg composed the work's overture. Schikaneder wrote the libretto for the entire piece. The text is based on a fairy tale from Christoph Martin Wieland's Dschinnistan, published in the late 1780s.
All five were later involved in The Magic Flute: Mozart as composer, Schikaneder as librettist, impresario and performer (Papageno), Henneberg as conductor, and Schack and Gerl as performers (respectively Tamino and Sarastro). Der Stein der Weisen may have provided a model for that work, as the two have a similar structure and source.
Reception and study The work was initially popular, but was largely absent from the standard repertoire for the two centuries after 1814. American musicologist David Buch announced the discovery of a Viennese score with attributions to all five composers. This was taken by some to indicate that Der Stein der Weisen was a previously unknown Mozart work, although in fact only a duet ("Nun, liebes Weibchen", known as the "cat duet") and two sections of the act 2 finale were attributed to him. Mozart's contributions are catalogued as K. 714.K. 714
The autograph of "Nun, liebes Weibchen" (K. 625/592a/Anh.A 64) is held by the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; the rest of the original score is lost. The work is known from a ca. 1795 copy.
The manuscript of nearly the entire opera has been found at Hamburg State LibraryFull manuscript for free download at Hamburg State Library, retrieved on 09th July 2025 by David J. Buch in 1996 and he made the first edition in 1998.
Another manuscript is available at the Frankfurt University Library or Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main under Signature "Mus Hs Opern 508 (1) containing the aria of Forte "Die Lieb ist wohl ein närrisch Ding" which is lacking in the Hamburg source.
Performances The singspiel was premiered on 11 September 1790 in the Theater auf der Wieden, conducted by Henneberg. It was first recorded by the Boston Baroque in 1999.
After the successful world premiere, the opera was performed over 24 years without interruption, the last performance was on 28 February 1814 in Linz, Austria.
Performances after discovery of the manuscript and re-publication by Buch in 1998 include: 2000: Hampstead and Highgate FestivalWebsite Highgate Festival 2001: AugsburgJan Schleusener: "Ein Fingerabdruck Mozarts: Der Stein der Weisen", Die Welt, 8 May 2001 (in German) July 2001: Bampton Classical Opera in an English translation by Barry Millington"The Philosopher's Stone", Bampton Classical Opera 2001: Pepperdine UniversityWebsite Pepperdine University 2003: , Piotr Micinski (bass), Renate Arends (soprano), , conducting 2006: Astoria Music Festival 2006: Haus für Mozart, Salzburg 2006: Garsington Opera Festival 2006George Hall: "Der Stein der Weisen review at Garsington Oxfordshire", The Stage, 6 July 2006 September 2010: Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur / Zurich Opera House"Winterthur: Der Stein der Weisen, 05.09.2010" by Kaspar Sannemann, 6 September 2010, Oper Aktuell (in German)"Der Stein der Weisen oder Die Zauberinsel", performance details and reviews, website of the director, (in German) June 2018: Tyrolean State Theatre, InnsbruckUdo Pacolt: "Innsbruck/ Tiroler Landestheater: Der Stein der Weisen von Mozart und vier weiteren Komponisten", Online Merker, 23 June 2018 (in German) December 2022: Augsburg, in concert"Quantensprung mit Mozart" by Klaus Kalchschmied, 11 December 2022, Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German)
Editions First Edition by David J. Buch with A-R-EditionsPublication on the first editors page, retrieved on 09th July 2025 New edition by publisher ClassiCulturCentrum / Ellenberger.institute with own website Website about Stein der Weisen, retrieved 9th July 2025 presenting all about the operaThe performance material as download product, retrieved on 9th July 2025 Sounding partitions as films on YouTubeSounding partitions of editor ClassiCulturCentrum on youtube, retrieved on 9th July 2025 Full audio recording of 1999 label Telarcrecording by Boston Baroque, retrieved on 9th July 2025 Audio Recording of Münchner Hofkapelle 2024Recording of label deutsche harmonia mundi/Sony in 2024, retrieved 9th July 2025
References
External links
Original manuscript in Hamburg State Library for free download - basis for first edition, discovered 1996 (https://www.wa-mozart.com/Library/)