Antonio Salieri: Ouverture to Der Rauchfangkehrer

Antonio Salieri`s first comic German Singspiel, “Der Rauchfangkehrer“ (The Chimney-Sweep), premiered in Vienna`s Burgtheatre in 1781. His second and last Singspiel (also his last opera) would be “Die Neger“ (The Negroes), set in colonial Virginia with a text by Georg Friedrich Treitschke (one of the authors of the libretto of Beethoven`s “Fidelio“) and premiered in Vienna in 1804. “Der Rauchfangkehrer“ relates the story of Volpino, an Italian chimney-sweep working in the rich mansion of Frau von Habicht, a