Der neue Menoza
comedy written by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
The New Menoza or a History of the Cumban Prinz Tandi (German: Der neue Menoza oder eine Geschichte des cumbanischen Prinzen Tandi) is a 1773 comedy by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, first published in Leipzig in 1774. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe arranged for the play's publishing.
Title
The title of the play is a reference to Danish author Erik Pontoppidan's 1754 novel Menoza, an Asian prince who travelled throughout the world looking for Christians.
Plot
Captain von Biederling has a new friend visiting his home in Naumburg - Count Camäleon. (the Count's name is similar to the German word for chameleon. The two want to invest in an "economic project" for the captain's benefit. The Count is not a comfortable guest; he is on the run after shooting another Count and is currently hiding with the Biederlings. A Kalmyk prince called Tandi, who is travelling through town as part of a European tour, makes a stop at Naumburg. When he captain announces to his wife that he is also expecting his old friend von Zopf from Trieste (Italy) to visit, Mrs von Biederling rebels. Von Zopf, who caused the death of her son, is most unwelcome to her.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Der neue Menoza” is comedy written by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through neue, Menoza and comedy, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “comedy written by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1199464. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1773, 1774 and 1754.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Der neue Menoza”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Der neue Menoza primary sources, Der neue Menoza archive and neue research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Der neue Menoza”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Der neue Menoza” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.