''Männerlist größer als Frauenlist oder Die glückliche Bärenfamilie'' (''Men Are More Cunning Than Women, or The Happy Bear Family''; WWV 48) is an unfinished

Singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk- ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, written between 1837 and 1838. ''Männerlist'' was Wagner's last operatic project before he embarked on ''

Rienzi ' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an 1842 opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi' ...

''. Although the book of the opera (which Wagner as usual wrote himself) has long been available, the full text (including dialogue) and three completed musical numbers (in

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

score), were discovered in a private collection in 1994 and later acquired by the archives of the Richard-Wagner-Stiftung in

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

. Wagner refers to this project in his "Red Pocketbook" and his autobiographical works '' A Communication to My Friends'' (1851) and '' My Life'' (1870–1880). In the latter he describes the work as "in a light neo-French style," which he began to write in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

, but that later when he took it up in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

for completion, "I was overtaken by utter disgust at this kind of writing." From the complete text and the surviving music, it is clear that the piece was conceived as a

. The story is drawn from the ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...

'', but relocated in 19th-century

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The jeweller Julius Wander, pretending to be an aristocrat, is tricked into promising to marry the ugly Aurora, daughter of the class-conscious Baron von Abendthau, by her cousin Leontine. He escapes when he recognises a passing bear-keeper, Gregor, as his father – and indeed that Gregor's dancing "bear" is in fact his own brother Richard in a bear-skin. Announcing his parentage, Wander is renounced by the snobbish Abendthau, and is free to marry Leontine. Two numbers from ''Männerlist'' realised by James Francis Brown were given their UK premieres on 13 October 2007 at the

Linbury Studio Theatre The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

.The full score and vocal score were published by Music Haven in 2012. Two different productions of this work as a completed fragment were staged by the Hauptstadtoper Berlin and the Pocket Opera Company Nuremberg in 2013.

References

;Notes ;Sources *Millington, Barry, "Happy Families: A Wagner Singspiel Rediscovered", in ''The Wagner Journal'', vol. 1 No. 3, London, 2007. *Wagner, Richard (Trans. Andrew Gray), ''My Life'', New York, 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mannerlist Grusser Als Frauenlist 1838 operas German-language operas Operas Operas by Richard Wagner Libretti by Richard Wagner Singspiele Unfinished operas Music based on One Thousand and One Nights