Ali Pascha von Janina
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| Ali Pascha von Janina | |
|---|---|
| Singspiel by Albert Lortzing | |
 The composer | |
| Librettist | Lortzing |
| Language | German |
| Premiere | |
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 Yanina.
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 at Theater Münster and Theater Osnabrück. Lortzing finally premiered the work in Münster on 1 February 1828, followed on 21 April in Osnabrück and on 12 April in Detmold.[1]
