EVENINGS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC - BAHRAIN - |
PROGRAMME FOR 21 MAY 2003 |
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL |
Opera in Three Acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) Libretto: Gottlieb Stephanie, after Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's libretto for Johann André's Belmont und Constanze, itself based on Isaac Bickerstaffe's The Captive. First Performance: 16 July 1782, Vienna CAST Belmonte, a Spanish nobleman - Francisco Araiza Konstanze, a Spanish noblewoman - Edita Gruberova Pash Selim - Thomas Holtzmann Osmin, overseer of the Pasha Selim's palace - Martti Talvela Blonde, Konstanze's English maid - Reri Grist Pedrillo, Belmonte's manservant and the Pasha's gardener - Norbert Orth Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra Conductor - Karl Böhm Produced by August Everding Recorded at the Munich National Theatre (25 April 1980) Sung in German with English sub-titles |
Synopsis Introduction The action is set in Turkey in the 17th century. The scene is the estate of the Pasha. Konstanze, a young Spanish noblewoman, her English maid Blonde, and Blonde's sweetheart Pedrillo have been captured by pirates and put up for sale at the slave-market. In this misfortune, fortune smiled on them: all three were bought by Pasha Selim, a Spaniard of good family and a Christian by birth, who has turned Mohammedan. They have been taken to his palace by the sea, where they live under conditions that might be a good deal worse. A letter from Pedrillo has at last reached Konstanze's fiancé, Belmonte. After months of agonizing uncertainty, he now knows their fate and where to find them. He takes a ship and sails to the shore Pedrillo has identified for him, determined to abduct those who were abducted by the pirates in the first place. Act One Filled with both anxiety and hope, Belmonte approaches the walls behind which his beloved is kept. Osmin, Pasha Selim's vizier, philosophises on the joys of love and the threat represented by a rival. He meets Belmonte's inquisitiveness with surliness, but the mention of Pedrillo turns this to open hostility before which Belmonte beats a prudent retreat. Pedrillo has won the Pasha's goodwill, but he is a thorn in the flesh to the notoriously suspicious vizier. Osmin is perfectly frank with Pedrillo: the sooner the Spaniard is dead, the better, so far as he is concerned. He has already devoted much thought to the bloodiest methods of execution. Master and servant come face to face. So near to his goal, Belmonte is greatly alarmed by what Pedrillo has to tell him: Pasha Selim has singled out Konstanze as his favourite before all the others in his harem. Pedrillo's assurances that she has remained true to her fiancé do something to allay his fears. But Belmonte is too distracted to pay much attention to Pedrillo's worries concerning Blonde, whom the Pasha has given to his vizier. An expected opportunity arises for Belmonte to see Konstanze, at least from a distance. Belmonte can barely master his longing, but he is also very afraid. Belmonte watches from a hiding-place, as Pasha Selim and Konstanze return to the shore after a boating-trip. The Pasha is greeted with music. Konstanze is sad. Selim's tenderness and consideration cannot cheer her. In vain he tries to win her heart. Konstanze confesses that she has given her heart once, and cannot give it to another. Her constancy only strengthens her attraction for the admiring Selim. Though the moment is inopportune, Pedrillo succeeds in presenting Belmonte as "an architect". The unsuspecting Pasha at once takes him into his service - to the fury of Osmin. With baleful obstinacy, Osmin tries to stop Pedrillo and the newly qualified architect from entering the palace, but in the end he is outwitted by them. Act Two Blonde deals the lusting Osmin one rebuff after another. He will not leave her alone, so she tells him what kind of treatment she expects from a suitor. Osmin resorts to threats to shake Blonde's European self-confidence, and stop her seeing Pedrillo. As a Muslim, he simply cannot understand how foreigners put up with disobedience from their women. As she goes to scratch his eyes out, he runs away. Konstanze enters the garden and laments her fate. Blonde urges her mistress not to lose heart. Pasha Selim warns that his patience is running out, but Konstanze is filled with an unexpected surge of courage. Konstanze is ready to die at the hands of torturers, rather than give in to threats. At last Pedrillo has a chance to tell the astonished Blonde of Belmonte's arrival, and the plans for their escape. Blonde is overjoyed: rescue is near, and at last she has news that will give her mistress courage and hope. Pedrillo sings to raise his own courage for an enterprise that he is not looking forward to. The first step is to incapacitate the ever watchful Osmin. Pedrillo tries to talk him out of his belief that it is against the commandment of the Prophet Mohammed to drink a glass of Cypriot wine. Osmin falls into the trap. His detestation of Pedrillo dissolves in the wine and together they sing a song in praise of Bacchus and women. The vizier soon succumbs to the dual effects of the wine and a drug. But it is still three hours before the four Europeans plan to flee. After their long separation, Konstanze and Belmonte fall into each other's arms. Pedrillo reminds Blonde once again to be ready for flight on the stroke of midnight. For all their happiness, the men cannot suppress their fears that their sweethearts may have been unfaithful. The answers they get, in their very different ways, shame the doubters. Fear at the impending adventure is put in the shade by the restoration of confidence in their loves. Act Three Their hearts pounding, master and man await the hour of midnight. Belmonte cannot take the joys of love for granted. The anguish of separation has been a high price to pay. At last the appointed hour has come, and Pedrillo gives the signal the women are waiting for. He sings a Moorish ballad, about an elopement, appropriately enough. Too soon, Osmin awakes from his drunken sleep, sees the escape as it happens and sounds the alarm. The refugees are caught. Osmin revels in anticipation of the terrible punishments that will now befall his arch-enemies. Pasha Selim listens angrily to Osmin's account of the treachery that the vizier has uncovered in the nick of time. The Pasha is outraged at this abuse of his trust. The prisoners' position is only made worse when Belmonte offers to pay a ransom and reveals his true identity. His father Lostados, commandant of Oran, is Selim's deadly enemy. It looks as though the hour of Selim's revenge is at hand. Belmonte and Konstanze are resigned to their fate. To die together will be the highest happiness. Pasha Selim, the renegade Christian whose life was once ruined by Lostados, forgoes his revenge. He decides not to repay his enemy's wrongdoing with a further act of wrongdoing. Ignoring the bloodthirsty Osmin's protests, he gives both couples safe passage. Pasha Selim accepts with dignity the gratitude of those he has so unexpectedly forgiven. As they voice their thanks in turn, the enraged, impotent interruption of Osmin makes no impression. Belmonte and Konstanze, Pedrillo and Blonde take ship for home. Janissary music enfolds Pasha Selim as they leave him behind in his palace by the sea. |
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