Zaide
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| Operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes (1767) |
Zaide is an unfinished opera, K. 344, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780. Emperor Joseph II, in 1778, was in the process of setting up an opera company for the purpose of performing German opera. One condition required of the composer to join this company was that he should write a comic opera. At Salzburg in 1779 he began work on a new "rescue" opera, Zaide. It contains spoken dialogue, which also classifies it as a Singspiel (literally, "singing play").
Rescue operas were popular at the time, since Muslim pirates were preying on Mediterranean shipping, particularly to obtain female, and male slaves, for various purposes. This story represents a reversal, as Zaide goes to save her beloved, Gomatz. Ludwig Van Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, is cast in the same mold, with spoken dramatic dialogue, although it is a husband (a political prisoner) who is saved from death in a Spanish prison.
Mozart was composing for a libretto by Johann Andreas Schachtner, set in Turkey, which was the scene of his next, completed rescue Singspiel (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). Sadly, he would soon abandon Zaide, to work on Idomeneo, and never returned to the project. The work was lost until after his death, when Constanze Mozart, his wife, found it in his scattered manuscripts in 1799. The fragments wouldn't be published until 1838, and its first performance was held in Frankfurt on January 27, 1866. Zaide has since been said to be the foundations of a masterpiece, and received critical acclaim. The tender soprano air, "Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben" is the only number that might be called moderately familiar.
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[edit] Style
Zaide can neither be described as opera buffa or opera seria it contained elements of both forms, and parallels may be drawn to both genre in Mozart's work. Zaide is also notable as being the only dramatic piece by Mozart to contain melodrama. This includes spoken dialogue which has been lost, though there have been various attempts in modern times to write new dialog to substitute for Schachtner's lost words.
[edit] Roles
- Zaide (soprano)
- Gomatz (tenor)
- Allazim (bass)
- Sultan Soliman (tenor)
- Osmin (bass)
- Zaram, Captain of the Guard (speaking rôle)
- Four Slaves (tenors)
[edit] Synopsis
Zaide falls in love with Gomatz, a slave, which strikes up jealousy and rage in the Sultan, who happens to also admire her. After capture she chooses a free life with Gomatz than a good life with the Sultan. Allazim encourages the sultan to consider Gomatz as a man, not as a slave.
