Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) was Mozart’s first opera for Vienna and an ambitious bid for a place among Austria’s cultural elite. Technically a Singspiel—a sung play combining musical numbers with spoken dialogue—Die Entführung was a commission from the city’s Nationalsingspiel, founded by Emperor Joseph II to promote German-language opera. The short-lived institution’s greatest success, Die Entführung takes a hybrid genre and creates a fluid human drama that anticipates Mozart’s Da Ponte operas. Spanish noblewoman Konstanze and her maid Blonde have been kidnapped by pirates and sold to Pasha Selim for his harem. Konstanze’s lover Belmonte infiltrates the palace, plotting their rescue and escape. The opera’s setting embraces the popular fashion for all things Turkish, echoed in the score’s bright colours and percussive energy. The demanding vocal writing overflows with a young man’s invention and virtuosity, with text and music woven closely together. The opera’s bravura centrepiece is Konstanze’s Act II aria “Martern aller Arten” (“Tortures of All Kinds”). Furious volleys of coloratura and huge leaps convey the heroine’s barely controlled rage and passion. Belmonte is the perfect romantic hero, poised and ardent, as we hear in his opening “Hier soll ich dich denn sehen”, while Blonde’s duet with the Pasha’s steward Osmin, “Ich gehe doch rate ich ihr”, catches the spirit of the opera’s comic supporting characters, singing of mutual conflict rather than love.