Gottlieb Stephanie in the context of Battle of Landeshut (1760)

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (German: [diː ʔɛntˈfyːʁʊŋ ʔaʊs dɛm zeˈʁaɪ]) (K. 384; The Abduction from the Seraglio; also known as Il Seraglio) is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The plot concerns the attempt of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, to rescue his beloved Constanze from the seraglio of Pasha Selim. The work premiered on 16 July 1782 at the Vienna Burgtheater, with the composer conducting.

Christoph Friedrich Bretzner (10 December 1748 – 31 August 1807) was a Leipzig merchant famous for writing the libretto to a singspiel entitled Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail, produced in Berlin and adapted in 1782 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gottlieb Stephanie as Die Entführung aus dem Serail.He died on 31 August 1807 after arriving for a theatrical performance in Leipzig.