Bastien und Bastienne Bastien und Bastienne ' was one of Mozart's earliest operas, written in 1768 when he was only twelve years old. It was allegedly commissioned by Viennese physician and 'magnetist' Dr. Franz Mesmer (who himself would later be parodied in "Così fan tutte") as a satire of the 'pastoral' genre then prevalent, and specifically as a parody of the opera "Le devin du village" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The German libretto is by Friedrich Wilhelm Weiskern, and Johann Andreas Schachtner, based on ' by Justine Favart and Harny de Guerville. After its supposed premiere in Mesmer's garden theater (that is only corroborated
Comic opera of other Italians, like Galuppi and Cimarosa, and also the Belgian/French composer Grétry. The first Russian comic opera was "Anyuta" (1772). The text was written by Mikhail Popov, with music by an unknown composer, consisting of a selection of popular songs specified in the libretto. Another successful comic opera, "Melnik – koldun, obmanshchik i svat" ("The Miller who was a Wizard, a Cheat and a Match-maker"', text by Alexander Ablesimov, Moscow, 1779), on a subject resembling Rousseau's "Devin", is attributed to Mikhail Sokolovsky. Ivan Kerzelli, Vasily Pashkevich and Yevstigney Fomin also wrote a series of successful comic operas in the