Doktor und Apotheker

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Doktor und Apotheker (Doctor and Apothecary) is a German-language two-act singspiel by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, with a libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on the anonymous French comedy L'apothicaire de Murcie (The Apothecary of Murcie). Although rarely heard now, Doktor und Apotheker was one of the most popular operas of its day, for a time eclipsing performances of Mozart's operas in Vienna. A contemporary press called the opera "a true masterpiece of art", praising the originality of Dittersdorf's music.^[1] With its incorporation of the Singspiel with sophisticated elements of Italian opera, it was also a watershed moment in the development of German comic opera, helping point the way to the development of German national opera and in particular of Viennese operetta. It is considered the composer's masterpiece and premiered on 11 July 1786 at the k. u. k. National-Theater in Vienna.