(wr. 1826, prod. 1929; reworked as Andreas Hofer, der Sandwirt von Passeyer, wr. 1834).
Dramatic poem in five acts.
Andreas Hofer, an honest and dedicated patriot, leads the fight in Tyrol against the French Army of the emperor Napoleon. When the Duke of Danzig, in charge of the French forces in Tyrol, is told that peace is being negotiated and that he should cease his attack, he disregards the order and is defeated by Hofer, barely escaping with his life.
A messenger delivers a letter from Napoleon to the duke announcing that a peace settlement has been made. Hofer, however, refuses to accept the news until he hears it from the Austrian Emperor himself. La Coste, a French lieutenant ordered to deliver the letter to Hofer, is killed en route by his mistress, whom he had betrayed. Now the French, believing Hofer responsible and regarding the death as a breach of the peace, arrest him and take him to Mantua.