Die drei Pintos

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Die drei Pintos (The Three Pintos) is a comic opera by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Theodore Hell. Weber began composing the score in 1820 and worked at it off and on until 1824, but it remained incomplete at his death. In the late 19th century, the composer's grandson gave the surviving sketches to Gustav Mahler, an admirer of Weber, who combined them with other music to create a complete opera which was premiered at the Neues Stadttheater, Leipzig on 20 January 1888. Richard Strauss admired the work, but appears to have changed his opinion after his mentor Hans von Bülow panned it; like Bülow, the influential critic Eduard Hanslick was also critical of the work. The title comes from the protagonist, Don Pinto, who is impersonated by two other characters in the course of the opera.

Although rarely produced nowadays, the "Intermezzo", composed entirely by Mahler based on melodies by Weber, hints at the flute calls (echoed by other wind instruments such as the oboe and bassoon) in the slow section of the first movement of Mahler's Symphony no. 1.

There are a couple of complete recordings of the opera. The 1976 premiere studio recording on RCA is under the direction of Gary Bertini, who conducts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and a stellar cast that includes Werner Hollweg, Hermann Prey and Lucia Popp, while the recent Naxos live recording from the Wexford Festival is under the direction of Paolo Arrivabeni.