Die Oper Roland

Following recent trends in opera research, this study focuses on the libretto. By examining its literary history, both the adaptability of the Roland material and the measures that were necessary for its dramatization and adaptation become clear. The main findings include evidence of the influence of spoken theater on opera and the constitutive role of the Enlightenment in the revision of a text written almost 100 years earlier at the end of the 18th century. The in-depth examination of Jean-François Marmontel's opera aesthetics fulfills a research desideratum. Another central object of investigation is the design of the title hero's madness.