Freemason, Mozarts Contemporary, and Theatre Director on the Edge: Franz Kratter (1758-1830) and Der Friede am Pruth (‘The Treaty of Prut’, 1799). Cataloguing the Komplex Mauerbach, Vienna

Abstract

Among the plays in the collection of theatre texts known as Komplex Mauerbach are three dramas, written by the Bavarian Franz Kratter (1758-1830), which revolve around Tsar Peter I of Russia (r.1682-1725). My paper will investigate this ‘Russian Trilogy‘, especially its last part: Der Friede am Pruth (‘The Treaty of Prut’, Frankfurt, 1799). I will highlight certain aspects of the biography of its author, Kratters links to fellow freemason Mozart and his family, and discuss theatre life in the periphery of the Habsburg domain, in the Galician capital of Lemberg (Lviv), where Kratter resided and worked as a theatre director and writer between 1786 and 1830.