The play was first published in 1872. The file contains materials related to rehearsal and performance, including a published copy (Berlin: Eduard Bloch, n.d.); a handwritten outline of the musical numbers in the play; and 13 handwritten role books, for the following parts (all of the main characters): Balthasar Bauer, Stadtmusikus; Lenchen, dessen Tochter; Stille; Frau Schnitter; Riemann, Stengel, Habersack, and Dose (Bauers Gehülfen);Fritz Jubel, Felix Sack, August Winzig and Christoph Hadlich (Bauers Lehrlinge); and Wilhelm Stein. The published copy, which likely dates from 1872, attributes music to A. Conradi (titled "königl. Musikdirektor"). Handwritten musical scores are included as follows (see folders 646-648): a homemade booklet of 7 songs with lyrics, labeled with the play title and attribution of music to Conradi; and individual sheets bearing scores for instruments including violin, bass, clarinet, cornet, flute, and trombone. A clipping from an unidentified English-language source is pasted to the front inside cover of the published copy: a poem entitled "The Grave in France," described as having been translated from the German by Dr. A. Biedermann; the poem corresponds to the lyrics of the song "Das Grab in Frankreich," found in act IV, scene 1, of the play. The music outline is written on the reverse of blank bills of lading for a Philadelphia company that were designed for use in the 1880s, and bears the names of cast members that appear to reflect the performances that took place in Philadelphia in March 1881, as documented by a theater newspaper (see folder 694). Two other cast lists are noted by hand in the published copy on the page with the list of characters. Names of actors and actresses written on the covers of role books reflect around four casts over time, beginning with the 1881 performances and apparently extending into the early 1890s. The published copy and the music booklet, as well as 6 of the role books, are all labeled as the property of Theodor Bloch, who ran a theater lending library in Philadelphia from around 1880 to the mid 1890s (at least some of the other role books seem also be part of the same set belonging to Bloch, but their original covers are not extant). See the index in the collection's register for details about 5 related theater newspapers from the 1880s in folders 694, 706, and 711.
