Music in Ferdinand Raimund's Plays

Music is an integral part of Raimund's plays and helps to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, with word, picture, and music forming a unit. Far from promoting an escape into a fantasy world, it was intended to enhance reality and delineate character. In this the playwright was well served by his musical directors/composers, but he also devised or wrote some of the best songs himself. To the extent that the variegated music furthers the plot, it fore-shadows the later operetta and musical