 "Euryanthe" is based on the 13th-century French romance "L'Histoire du très-noble et chevalereux prince Gérard, comte de Nevers et la très-virtueuse et très chaste princesse Euriant de Savoye, sa mye".Only the overture, an outstanding example of the early German Romantic style (heralding Richard Wagner), is regularly played today.Like Schubert's lesser-known "Alfonso und Estrella", of the same time and place (Vienna, 1822), "Euryanthe" parts with the German Singspiel tradition, adopting a musical approach without the interruption of spoken dialogue characteristic of earlier German language operas such as Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte", Beethoven's "Fidelio", and Weber's own "Der Freischütz".