 
Heinrich Spängler
Helga Rabl-Stadler
Entführung
Masterpiece
Don Carlo
The concerts
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ABDUCTION FROM OPERA SERIA, OR: THE TURKS IN VIENNA
Carl Maria von Weber: “I dare to express the belief that Mozart’s experience of art had reached its maturity in Entführung and afterwards he only continued to create experience of the world”.
It is exactly 225 years ago: Emperor Joseph II wanted to have a “German National Theatre” in Vienna. He had ideas of reform in political and social spheres as well as in art, and this meant quite specifically that on the stage, according to the Emperor’s will, opera was to be sung in German so that everyone could understand it. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, sent to Vienna by his Salzburg employer Prince-Archbishop Graf Colloredo, was keen to be commissioned to compose such an opera in response to the Emperor’s initiative and intended to write a German singspiel. It was completed in 1782: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) was premiered in the Imperial and Royal National Court Theatre – nowadays the Burgtheater in Vienna – and was a success.
A monument for Joseph II
In the guise of a harmless Turkish opera Mozart and his librettist Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the younger created a monument for Joseph II, who could be described as the enlightened despot, especially for his progressive political and moral ideas. Turkish fashion was all the rage at that time in Vienna and so there was nothing unusual in giving the ruler in the costume of Bassa Selim Josephinian and extremely positive characteristics. But despite all magnanimity, it would not be a work by Mozart if it did not have a few really human traits. Mozart urged his librettist to think up “a completely new plot” for the third act. In vain and so at the end of the second act he added his own plot with musical means: he introduced musical and dramatic creases into the smooth course of the action. The two pairs of lovers see each other again after a long period of separation “blissfully and full of delight”; never before have the four Europeans experienced so much happiness and trust inside Bassa Selim’s palace. The noble Belmonte embraces his faithful Constanze and then it happens: the fairy-tale prince becomes an ordinary mortal, a man who suddenly has doubts. “They say … you are …”
Rudolf Hradil, Heldenplatz,
Vienna, 1997
Smooth transition from harmony to jealousy
Was Constanze faithful? Is Belmonte noble? Harmony turns to jealousy
without any noticeable transition and the blissful quartet takes on a
darker harmony, modulating to G minor and is full of penetrating quavers.
One would think that
in this situation there would be more important things to discuss. They
do after all have to make plans to escape
but the two gentlemen become ordinary men and make a
huge scene. This certainly does not correspond to the basic aesthetic
and stylistic concept of the opera. It is so mundane and banal that it
thoroughly destroys the illusion of an ideal situation and reveals something
else: reality.
Already during Mozart’s lifetime Die Entführung aus dem Serail
was by far his most successful and most frequently performed opera. In
Mozart’s biography the work marks a decisive caesura. He was 26
years old and had managed to liberate himself both artistically and personally.
In Vienna he became independent of his father and of his employer in Salzburg
and from then onwards Mozart lived his own life as a freelance composer.
And this all occurred with a lively, radiant singspiel about a liberation,
with the enlightened ideas of the time.
Kerstin Unseld
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
New production
Conductor Ivor Bolton
Stage director Stefan Herheim
Stage design Gottfried Pilz
Costumes N.N.
Chorus master Rupert Huber
Dramaturgy Wolfgang Willaschek
Bassa Selim N.N.
Konstanze Iride Martinez
Blondchen Diana Damrau
Belmonte Jonas Kaufmann
Pedrillo Dietmar Kerschbaum
Osmin Peter Rose
Klaas N.N.
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Salzburg Mozarteum Orchester
Kleines Festspielhaus
Premiere
Sunday 27 July 6.30 p.m.
Further performances
Wednesday 30 July 6.30 p.m.
Sunday 3 August 7.00 p.m.
Tuesday 5 August 6.30 p.m.
Sunday 10 August 6.30 p.m.
Thursday 14 August 6.00 p.m.
Thursday 21 August 6.30 p.m.
Saturday 23 August 6.30 p.m.
Monday, 25 August 5.00 p.m.
Wednesday 27 August 6.00 p.m.
Friday 29 August 7.30 p.m.
Tickets are available from the Ticket Office
of the Salzburg Festival in the following price categories:
€ 45 / 65 / 90 / 140 / 210 / 270 / 350
Standing room tickets: € 15
Telephone: 0043 662 8045-500
Telefax: 0043 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at