Global InformationAli Pascha von Janina information
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| Ali Pascha von Janina | |
|---|---|
| Singspiel by Albert Lortzing | |
 The composer | |
| Librettist | Lortzing |
| Language | German |
| Premiere | 1 February 1828 Städtische Bühnen Münster |
Ali Pascha von Janina oder Die Franzosen in Albanien (Ali Pasha of Ioannina or The French in Albania) is a one-act German singspiel. It is set around 1820 in Ioannina, then part of the Ottoman Empire and is named after its central character Ali Pasha of Ioannina.
Its music and libretto are both by the German composer Albert Lortzing – it can be considered as a precursor to his later full-length operas. He had decided to write for the stage in 1823, aged 22. Orientalist subjects were then popular and so he chose that theme for his first work. On 30 January 1824 he married Rosina Regina Ahles and soon afterwards he completed the music, but it took him until 1828 to find a theatre which would mount the work.
The couple took on an engagement at the Hoftheater Detmold in autumn 1826, as well as appearing in theatres in Münster and Osnabrück. Lortzing finally premiered the work in the Städtische Bühnen Münster in on 1 February 1828, where it was a moderate success and enabled him to continue writing plays.