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by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Important note: To get into the mood for this article and, more importantly, this event, use any search engine and find the overture to "The:Abduction from the Seraglio". There are many fine recordings to choose from.
Readers: you are about to be ushered into one of the signature cultural events of human history: the opening night of "The Abduction from the Seraglio". You have arrived at the Burgtheater in Vienna, the cultural capital of Europe... You are in a state of high excitement and nervous, too. You are afraid that you will not be in your seat before the Emperor arrives; (why had the coachman not checked that wheel before?)... and that will never do.
Yes, His Imperial and Apostolic Majesty is even now on his way... for he, like you, has heard the buzz: this is Mozart, wonderful Mozart, sublime Mozart at his best. And the emperor, though an amateur, is a gifted musician, too. Is he aware that history is being made that night? Probably. But then wherever the Vicegerent of God Himself goes... history goes, too. That is what being a Hapsburg is all about... and a Mozart, too.
Some background.
The man, Joseph Benedikt August Johannes Anton Michael Adam, who became Emperor Joseph II in 1764, had a pedigree even longer than his name. Unfortunately, that did not prevent him being born under a cloud. For at the very moment of his birth (13 March 1741), the patrimony of his mother, Maria Theresa, was being sundered, pillaged, plundered by Prussia's King Frederick II who made the creation of mayhem his special talent. As a result, Joseph's inheritance shrank significantly. becoming less German, more Italian for his empire was both. He wanted vengeance... and Wolferl Mozart was the unlikely device. Just 25, he was, Joseph II was sure, precisely what was needed to show the world that Berlin was nothing more than an outpost of thieves and marauders whilst Vienna was... exalted, lofty. This was music as statecraft... and it was played andante non troppo.
For his weapon of choice, Joseph II was patron of the Nationalsingspiel, his pet project from 1778-1783. Its task was to perform works in the German language and make every German speaking person on earth realize that Vienna, magnificent Vienna, culture-loving Vienna was their true capital, never that cultural backwater, Berlin.
The messy beginning.
Mozart, a young man always in a hurray, wanted Vienna for his capital as much as the emperor did. And so, ever upward aspiring, Mozart befriended Gottlieb Stephanie, inspector of the Nationalsingspiel and set about the business of turning them into a means of glorifying... Mozart... whatever was necessary.
Relentlessly Mozart lobbied, ultimately impressing Count Rosenberg-Orsini, manager of the opera. The count was impressed enough to ask Steiphanie to find appropriate material for Mozart... and he did: pirating and then altering an earlier work by Bretzner. Bretzner complained long and loud. No one cared. The honor of the nation... the reputation of the emperor was at stake. Mozart got his libretto, and (so it happened) immortality.
But, first, came the work which even the most gifted must do; something the less gifted never quite understand. Most assuredly work precedes its benefits.
Mozart received the libretto (which he immediately started changing) in July, 1781. At his usual, how-can-he-do-it-so-fast breakneck pace, he wrote three major numbers in just two days. He thought he'd finish the entire opera, the first to be written in German (the job, remember, of Nationsingspiel) in just two months. But even sublime genius often needs more time...
As Mozart wrote, so he thought about just what he was doing. This letter to his father (13 October 1781) gives us an aperture to the creative process at work:
"I would say that in an opera the poetry must be altogether the obedient daughter of the music. Why are Italian comic operas popular everywhere -- in spite of miserable llibretti?... Because the music reigns supreme, and when one listens to it all else is forgotten." But he hadn't finished...
"An opera is sure of success when the plot is well worked out, the words written solely for the music and not shoved in here and there to suit some miserable rhyme... The best thing of all is when a good composer, who understands the stage and is talented enough to make sound suggestions, meets an able poet, that true phoenix; in that case, no fears need to be entertained as to the applause -- even of the ignorant."
Mozart, the supreme egotist, was of course writing about himself... for by now he had taken on all the necessary roles... the better to create a work of undiluted brilliance. Now the way was clear for Mozart to create a work that would take Vienna by storm and establish him as the ultimate artist of his age... and all the ages to come.
The man and his moment were ready... "The Abduction from the Seraglio" now began to emerge.
It is light hearted and frequently comic, inspired by contemporary interest in the Ottoman Empire, once Austria's menace, now the "sick man of Europe" ripe for the taking. The plot takes place in a seraglio, the harem where every delight and debauchery could be found; in short the very symbol of the irresponsible good life we all want.
Mozart delivered it... the action carried forward by spoken dialogue, punctuated by set numbers, including several of the most spectacular and difficult arias he would ever write. He was dazzling... innovative... and cheeky.
Joseph II came to check on the progress of his project. Mozart, of course, asked him how he liked it. The emperor supposedly said, "That is too fine for my ears -- there are too many notes." Mozart, protecting his baby, supposedly responded, "There are just as many notes as there should be." But the key word here is "supposedly" for the anecdote may be ben trovato, not truth. Joseph II, after all, was a musician himself; he knew how good Mozart really was.
And now he was on his imperial way to the premier of the work he threw down as a challenge, a gauntlet to his bete noir in Berlin, Frederick II. "We have Mozart as an ornament of our Court!" It was an insult, from one sovereign to another, certified by the raucous applause and huzzahs which resonated through the ornate Burgtheater the night of 16 July 1782. That applause has never stopped... nor will it ever.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also a noted historian and author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com.
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