Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Theater an der Wien (The Theatre on the Wien River) is an opera house in Vienna.The theater opened in 1801 and was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who is best known to history as Mozart''s librettist and collaborator on the opera The Magic Flute (1791). Schikaneder''s troupe had already been successfully performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller (800-seat) Theater auf der Wieden, where The Magic Flute had premiered. Schikaneder, whose performances often emphasized spectacle and scenery, felt ready to move to a larger and better equipped venue.