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THE ORIGIN OF A MASTERPIECE
“The Abduction from the Seraglio” is a Singspiel by Mozart. It was written in
1782. A Singspiel is a kind of opera. Mozart started writing the piece soon after arriving
in Vienna. Mozart was born in 1756. In 1781, Mozart, eager to please Emperor Joseph,
began writing Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, a theatrical piece of the type then in
fashion. Mozart had been in Salzburg before this. The librettist was C. F. Bretzner.
“. . . Mozart combined in Die Entfuhrung the same generic elements, the same
national styles, that Umlauf, Ordonez and others had combined in their German operas;
but Mozart, though younger than Umlauf and Ordonez, had much more experience as a
dramatic composer than either and he had composed works in many of the genres from
which he was expected to draw as a composer of German opera for the Burgtheater.”1
Goethe not only thought the opera more than just a success, but the beginning of
the career that marked the pinnacle of music history. According to Karol Berger, Goethe
saw all of Mozart’s operas as objects, “To imitate, emulate, and compete with,” although
no one ever could successfully compete with them.2 One obituary of Mozart called the
opera “the pedestal upon which his fame was erected.”3 Many critics liked it, however
Mozart’s father did not like it. Also, Gluck liked it. He liked it so much he asked for an
extra performance.4
Type your name here:
Rice, John A., “Vienna under Joseph II and Leopold II,” in The Classical Era: From the 1740s to the end
of the 18th century, ed. Neal Zaslaw (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989), 137.
2
Karol Berger, Bach’s Cycle, Mozart’s Arrow: An Essay on the Origins of Musical Modernity (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2007), 272.
3
Cited in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, s. v. “Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus,” vol. 15.
4
New Grove, “Mozart.”
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