Kleider machen Leute (Eng: Clothes make the man) is a comic opera by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky. The libretto was written by Leo Feld, based on the 1874 novella of the same name by Gottfried Keller.
Zemlinsky started work on the opera in 1907, and completed a three-act version in 1909. This was premiered at the Vienna Volksoper on 2 December 1910.
In 1913, for a projected production in Mannheim which never materialised, Zemlinsky made revisions. This version was given its belated premiere at the Stadttheater Cottbus in January 2025.
For a revival in Prague in 1922, Zemlinsky revised the work yet again, creating a version in two acts. This third and final version was premiered at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague on 20 April 1922.
The score was originally published by Bote & Bock but later acquired by Universal Edition Vienna.
On a provincial road, Wenzel Strapinski (a tailor's apprentice) is saying goodbye to two of his colleague friends. Suddenly, a magnificent carriage stops next to him. The coachman takes Wenzel to Goldach, introduces him there as a count, and then disappears.
The citizens of Goldach admire the newcomer. The administrator and his daughter Nettchen join them. Only Melchior Böhni, who is in love with Nettchen but was rejected by her, is suspicious.
Strapinski loves Nettchen, but is in two minds about the deceit. When he decides to leave, Nettchen stops him. His rival Böhni then exposes Strapinski as an impostor. Strapinski convinces the people of Goldach who treated him as a count that his only motive for playing along was his love for Nettchen. When he wants to leave, Nettchen stops him again, declaring that if she can not be a countess, she will gladly be the wife of a master tailor.
stage orchestra: clarinet in D, clarinet in B flat, 2 horns, trumpet, bass trombone, violin