Das Friedens-feyer

("The peace festival") A German play in two acts, with songs.

Performance history in South Africa

A play announced as Das Friedens-feyer was first performed in German in the African Theatre, Cape Town on 12 March 1803 by Het Hoogduitsche Gezelschap van het Liefhebbery Theater with Die Ueberrasschung (Stephanie).

Bosman (1928. p. 79) suggests the play may have been translated into Dutch as Het Vredensfeest by Johann André(Arend Simonszoon Fokke) in 1802. Another possibility may be that it was exactly the opposite, that the Dutch play was in fact translated into German by the company and performed in Cape Town. However, this seems unlikely, since the Dutch play deals with the Treaty of Amiens between France and England, an unlikely theme for a German company.

Another possibility is that the play was actually Die Friedensfeyer, oder Die unvermuthete Wiederkunft ("The peace Festival, or The unsuspected return"), a well-known two-act German comedy for children by Christian Felix Weisse (1726–1804), with music by Johann André (1741–1799). This had been published in 1779 in the fifth volume of Weisse's children's journal Der Kinderfreund ("The Children's Friend").