CHAPTER XXV. "DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL."
THE gradual decline of the German festival and "spektakel" operas was consummated in 1742, when Gottsched, DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. who had waged incessant war against them throughout his career, had the satisfaction of chronicling the opera of "Atalanta," in Dresden, as the last of its kind[ 1 ] but they were succeeded by a sort of aftergrowth in the form of the operetta.[ 2 ] The theatrical managers could not altogether dispense with similar means of attraction, and attempts were made to introduce the musical intermezzo, together with the now fairly well-established ballet. In 1743 Schonemann produced in Berlin Coffey's "Devil to Pay" ("Der Teufel ist los"), adapted by Von Barck, with the English melodies;[ 3 ] but this attempt, as well as the performance of Schürer's vaudeville "Doris," in Dresden, in 1747,[ 4 ] remained without result. In 1752 Koch, of Leipzig, who had had recourse to the performance of Italian intermezzi,[ 5 ] commissioned Chr. Fel. Weisse to make a new adaptation of Coffey's "Devil to Pay, or the Bewitched Wives," which was set to music by Standfuss, the assistant-manager of Koch's company.[ 6 ] Gottsched and his wife renewed the old strife against this attempt, but were completely defeated.[ 7 ] The second part of the opera "Der Teufel ist los"—"Der Lustige Schuster"—was produced by Koch, in 1759, at Lubeck.[ 8 ] But not until his return to GERMAN OPERETTA. Leipzig, in 1765, did he give his serious attention to vaudeville. Weisse revised his old opera of "Der Teufel ist los," which, with partially new music by Hiller, was performed in 1766, and received with fresh applause.[ 9 ] Koch found in Joh. Ad. Hiller what had always hitherto been wanting, viz., a composer of good musical and general education, having a decided talent for light, easy, and characteristic music (more especially comic music), and full of zeal for the elevation of the national art. He endeavoured to make another step in advance, and by the composition of Schieb-ler's romantic poem of "Lisuart and Dariolette" (performed November 25, 1766) to lay the foundation of serious German opera.[ 10 ] Educated in the tradition of Hasse and Graun, with the additional influence of Ph. Em. Bach, he followed with interest the attempts to gain favour for Italian music in Paris by reconciling it with the demands of French taste; and he wished to establish a national German opera on the same principles. He denied that the German language was unfitted for song, if only the poet would take the trouble of accommodating it to the music, and if artists were trained for German singing with as much care as for Italian. Since German taste was more Italian than French, but the French were superior to the Italians in dramatic treatment, a French plan in Italian form was most likely to be approved of by Germans.[ 11 ] The insufficient appointments of the Leipzig stage must, however, have dissuaded him from any idea of a grand opera. To this was added his connection with Weisse, who during his residence in Paris had taken a lively interest in the comic opera, and had exerted himself to transplant it into Germany.[ 12 ]
His first opera, "Lottchen am Hofe," after "Ninette ä la Cour," and "Die Liebe auf dem Lande," after "Annette et DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. Lubin" and "La Clochette," had so great a success in 1767 and 1768 that they prepared the way for other similar attempts.[ 13 ] These simple dramas, which occupied the mind without exerting it, and moved the feelings without unduly exciting them, were so much in keeping with Weisse's own nature that he was able to give them characteristic and appropriate form. They opened a field, too, for Hiller's simple hearty spirit, embodied in a popular form, which made his style appeal at once to the multitude; while an endeavour after higher things would only have turned him into an imitator of Hasse. A rapid succession of operas by Weisse and Hiller, which were received with unanimous approbation, and spread with incredible rapidity, soon established a definite type of German operetta, and raised up a host of imitators. The interest of the public, especially in North Germany, was almost exclusively confined to operetta,[ 14 ] so that in Berlin, for instance, during the years 1781-83, 117, 141, and 151 operettas were performed.[ 15 ] This implies an extraordinary production. Besides translations from French operettas by Duni, Philidor, Monsigny, Grétry, and Italian intermezzi, there were innumerable German vaudevilles, for the most part also founded on foreign originals.[ 16 ] Some idea may be formed of the fertility of these composers, by the fact that between 1765 and 1785, Hiller composed 13 operas, Wolf 18, Neefe 10, Holly 13, André 22, Schweitzer 16, Stegmann 10, G. Benda 8; to whom may be added a host of other less productive and less celebrated composers.
This activity had indeed drawbacks, for it was practised with great ease, and many amateurs of very inferior musical education intruded themselves among the operatic musicians.[ 17 ] The careless dilettantism of the poet went hand in hand GERMAN OPERETTA. with that of the composer. A host of unskilful verse-makers allied themselves with Weisse, Michaelis, and Gotter, and threatened to degrade the operetta to the lower level of the opera buffa. A further drawback consisted in the very defective performances, which in most instances resulted from the insufficient powers of the operetta companies.
"We must remember," says Reichardt, in his "History of the Comic Opera," "how much Hiller was hampered by the miserable state of our operatic companies. He was fully aware of this, and what I admire in him is that he never lost sight of the fact that he was writing, not for singers, but for actors, who had scarcely music enough in them to sing over their wine." The state of things had not altered much since Hiller began to write. The Italian operas alone were supported by the courts; the German operettas remained in the hands of private speculators; who did not possess the means of attracting vocalists of artistic cultivation. No singer of any reputation would have thought it consistent with his dignity to appear in German vaudeville. The vaudeville, therefore, remained in the hands of actors, who had seldom any vocal powers and still seldomer any but a superficial cultivation, but who willingly appeared in operettas on account of the high fees[ 18 ] and great applause they might reckon upon. Reichardt gives an appalling description of the German opera in Berlin in 1774; he heard one of Hiller's operas "sung by a wide-mouthed, screeching woman, and a lover with a voice like a night-watchman," and that before an audience which had "the reputation of very refined taste";[ 19 ] he was no better pleased at Leipzig.[ 20 ] Müller says of a performance of Wolf's "Treuen Kohler" at Dresden in 1776: "As only two of all the performers were at all musical, you may imagine how the opera was DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. rendered." It is conceivable, therefore, that the growing partiality for German opera was regarded with disfavour by earnest men, as prejudicial alike to the dramatic interests which were still struggling to assert themselves in Germany,[ 21 ] and to the artistic development of operatic music proper.[ 22 ] The actor Müller, during his professional tour in 1776, made himself acquainted with the views of competent judges as to the admissibility of German operettas; the different opinions which he collected are characteristic enough. Lessing—who held the union of poetry and music as the most perfect in existence, "so that nature herself appears to have destined them not so much for union as to be considered as one and the same art"[ 23 ]—was against vaudevilles. "They are the ruin of our stage. Such works are easily written; every comedy affords material to the author; he scatters a few songs about, and the thing is done. Our new dramatic poets find this a far easier task than writing a good character piece." Gleim was even more violently opposed to vaudeville than Lessing, and gave Müller an epigram upon the
"Witch":—
Die, schlau wie
Schlang' und Krokodill,
Sich schleicht in aller
Menschen Herzen
Und drinnen sitzt, als wie ein
Huhn Auf seinem
Nest, und lehrt:
Nur klcine Thaten thun
Und über grosse
Thaten scherzen!"
Weisse smiled when Müller repeated the lines to him, and declared himself, as became the founder of German opera, in its favour. He was too modest, however, to maintain that operettas were dramatic works of art, or to hope thereby to raise the taste of his countrymen; he could only disclaim all intention of degrading it or of doing more than encouraging GERMAN OPERETTA. German people to come together, and providing pleasant and popular entertainments for them when they did so.[ 24 ] Gotter preserved a discreet neutrality on the subject, since he had had a direct interest in more than one operatic libretto; he would not declare for either side, and was of opinion that variety was the root of all pleasure. Wieland was more explicit, and declared that the national stage could only be rendered of importance by German music; comic and serious German vaudevilles were wanted, but good poets would soon come forward to supply the need. He was not only able to point to his own "Alceste," and the success it had obtained; he had developed his views on the cultivation of German vaudeville with a lively acknowledgment of the achievements of Schweitzer, and he possessed genuine feeling and interest for music. Even a musician like Reichardt declared himself against the operetta, but thought as it was there it ought at least to be improved, and made as useful as possible.[ 25 ]
The interest which was taken by great poets in the elevation of the vaudeville is exemplified by Goethe; after "Erwin und Elmire" and "Claudina von Villabella" were written, his intercourse with his early friend Christoph Kayser[ 26 ] (b. 1736) caused him to attempt the construction of vaudeville after the received type of the Italian operetta. His first experiment was "Scherz, List und Rache," which he began in 1784, and sent at once to Kayser for composition;[ 27 ] the two first acts were ready the following year, and were well thought of in Weimar;[ 28 ] in Rome, whither Goethe was followed by Kayser at the end of 1787, they finished the operetta together.[ 29 ] But Goethe thought that the operetta DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. was extravagantly mounted,[ 30 ] and complains himself that a defective conception of the intermezzo had led him to spin out the trivial subject into innumerable musical pieces, which had been treated by Kayser quite after the old-fashioned models. "Unhappily," says Goethe, "adherence to the old principles caused it to suffer from poverty of parts; it never went beyond a terzet, and one felt inclined to wish that the doctor's medical books might be endowed with life to form a chorus. All the pains we took, therefore, to confine ourselves within narrow and simple limits went for nothing when Mozart appeared. The 'Entführung aus dem Serail' threw all else into the shade, and our carefully worked-out piece was never heard of again at any theatre."[ 31 ]
A closer examination of Mozart's opera will make it clear to us why it threw all others into the shade. The plot of Bretzner's[ 32 ] "Entführung aus dem Serail," written for André in 1781, is simple and in no way original:—
Constanze, the beloved of Belmont, is in the power of the Pasha Selim, who has confined her in his seraglio, and sues in vain for her love. Belmont has been made aware of her place of confinement by Pedrillo, his former servant, who has also fallen into the hands of the Pasha, and become the overseer of his gardens; Belmont hastens to liberate his beloved. In seeking Pedrillo he stumbles upon Osmin, overseer of the country-house in which the action takes place; and both he and Pedrillo (who is even more obnoxious to Osmin from his known love to Blondchen, Constanze's waiting-maid, whom Osmin seeks to win) are rudely repulsed by Osmin. In the meantime Pedrillo succeeds in recommending Belmont to his master as an accomplished architect; Selim takes him into his service, and Osmin is reluctantly obliged to admit him to the country-house. In the second act Blondchen makes short work of Osmin's arrogant jealousy in respect of her, and Constanze remains constant against the renewed attempts of the Pasha. Hereupon Pedrillo inveigles Osmin into drinking with him, and renders him harmless by means of a sleeping potion; the freedom thus obtained is employed by the lovers in an interview at which their flight the following night is determined on. In the third act this is put into effect. Pedrillo ALTERATIONS IN THE LIBRETTO. gives the sign, Belmont escapes with Constanze; as Pedrillois carrying off Blondchen, Osmin enters still half asleep; they contrive to escape but he causes them to be pursued, and both couples are brought before the Pasha. They are condemned to death, but the Pasha, moved at last by their self-sacrificing love and fidelity, pardons and unites them.
The original libretto is arranged for a genuine vaudeville. All the dramatic interest lies in the spoken dialogue; the songs are, with a few exceptions, superfluous additions, and imply a very moderate amount of execution. Mozart undertook to indicate to Stephanie where and how, in the interests of the composer, alterations should be made, and only left to him the framing of the text, with which it was not necessary to be so particular, if only the situations were well arranged in their main features. The principal point, next to giving to the musical element of the piece its due prominence as the most fitting expression of lyric sentiment, was the proper consideration of the individualities of the performers themselves. Fortunately this task was not complicated in the way which had so often been the case. Madame Cavalieri was certainly more of a bravura singer than anything else, and neither her appearance nor her acting was effective; but Adamberger and Fischer were just as Mozart would have had them, both as singers and actors, and Fischer especially was an extraordinarily gifted artist. The part of Osmin, which was created for him, shows the influence of a congenial spirit on the conceptions of the creating artist. When Mozart was fairly embarked in the work, he wrote to his father about the libretto and the alterations already made in it (September 26, 1781):—
The opera began with a soliloquy which I have begged Herr Stephanie to turn into a little ariette, and also, instead of the two chattering together after Osmin's song, to make a duet out of the dialogue. As we have given the part to Fischer, who has an excellent bass voice (although the Archbishop once told me he sang too low for a bass, and I assured his grace that he would sing higher next time), we must give him something to do, especially as he is such a favourite with the public. In the original book Osmin has only one little song, and nothing else but the terzet and finale. I have given him an aria in the first act, and he is to have another in the second. I have trusted the aria altogether to Stephanie, the music was ready before he knew a word about it.
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL.
These alterations were of specially good dramatic effect in the first scene, and Osmin's song called to life the first German comic aria which deserves to be called great. In the second act the dialogue between Blondchen and Osmin becomes a duet; on the other hand, a superfluous duet between Constanze and Blondchen is very rightly omitted. Instead of it Constanze has the great bravura song "Mar-tem aller Arten," chiefly as a concession to the singer; for the repetition of the scene in which she scornfully rejects the Sultan's proposals is in every way superfluous. Blondchen's second song—newly inserted—is, however, quite appropriate; in it she expresses her joy at her approaching deliverance; so that the original duet is really embodied to a certain extent in these two songs.
But the chief alteration which Mozart contemplated was in the conclusion of the second act. In Bretzner's text the abduction scene is treated as a grand ensemble movement, with which the third act commences. A long and elaborate duet between Belmont and Pedrillo, who are lying in ambush, makes the beginning, and then Constanze appears and is carried off by Belmont. After Pedrillo has climbed up to Blondchen in the window, Osmin comes out of the house still heavy with sleep; but he sees the fugitives and has them pursued and brought back by his guard; they beg for mercy, seek to regain their liberty by bribery—in vain; Osmin rages, and all the characters are in a state of excitement.
Mozart's quick eye saw that this scene, bringing together all the characters in a succession of rapidly varying and contrasting situations, forms the culminating point of the opera; he wished, therefore, that this "charming quintet, or rather finale, should be placed at the close of the second act." He also saw that this transposition would necessitate other important alterations. The second act could be kept together very well by the mutual understanding of the two lovers; but the third act, for which nothing was reserved but the unravelling of the knot by the clemency of the Sultan, if it was to have any substance or interest, "must be provided with an entirely new intrigue." The difficulty ALTERATIONS IN THE LIBRETTO. of finding this seems to have put a stop to the alteration, and the original arrangement remained. But for Bretzner's insignificant finale to the second act there was substituted an elaborate quartet, which expresses in music the reunion of the lovers in its various aspects of joy and jealousy, of disputes and reconciliation. An air for Belmont precedes this; it is well-fitted for the situation, and is intended also as a concession to the singer, for in this act, where all the other characters come to the front, Belmont had originally nothing to sing but the ensemble music.
Mozart began the composition of the ensemble movement at the commencement of the third act. The greater part of the duet between Belmont and Pedrillo before the romanze was sketched out by him in his usual way, the voices and bass written in full, the accompaniment indicated here and there. It breaks off, however, in the middle; and Mozart appears to have purposely laid it aside, convinced that the scene must be differently treated.[ 33 ] The ensemble was given up; Mozart saw that it would throw the whole opera out of gear, and would concentrate the interest and the action at the wrong place. The abduction scene was confined to dialogue, only Pedrillo's romanze being left; in addition, songs for Belmont and Osmin were inserted, both highly characteristic. The duet for Belmont and Constanze, which follows, is altered only in the words, not in the situation; the closing catastrophe it was thought well to modify. In Bretzner's version the Pasha Selim, who is a renegade, recognises in Belmont his son, which leads to the dénouement;
but Stephanie makes him pardon the lovers from generosity and magnanimity, which, as a critic remarked, were the fashion of the day in Vienna.[ 34 ] Constanze's song of gratitude at the close is very rightly omitted, and replaced by the then customary vaudeville, in which all the characters declare in turn: "Wer solche Huld vergessen kann, den seh man mit Verachtung an!
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL.
Mozart's father had raised objections to the libretto, and the alterations in it; he was particularly concerned that the verses were not in regular rhyme throughout. Thereupon his son made him the following remarkable answer (October):—
Now about the text of the opera. As far as Stephanie's work is concerned, you are quite right, but the poetry is very well suited to the character of the stupid, boorish, and malicious Osmin. I am quite aware that the versification is not of the best; but it goes so well with my musical thoughts (which were running in my head long before) that I cannot but be pleased; and I would wager that no fault will be found in performance. Belmont's aria, "O wie ängtslich," could scarcely be written better for the music. Constanze's aria too is not bad, with the exception of the "Hui,"[ 35 ] and the line "Sorrow reposes in my bosom," for sorrow cannot repose. After all, in an opera, the poetry must be the handmaid of the music. Why do Italian comic operas always please, in spite of their wretched librettos—even in Paris, as I was witness myself? Because the music is supreme, and everything else is forgotten. All the more then will an opera be likely to please in which the plan of the piece is well carried out, and the words are written simply to suit the music; not turned and twisted so as to ruin the composition for the sake of a miserable rhyme, which God knows does far more harm than good in a dramatic representation.[ 36 ] Verse, indeed, is indispensable for music, but rhyme is bad in its very nature: and poets who go to work so pedantically will certainly come to grief, together with the music. It would be by far the best if a good composer who understands the theatre, and know-how to produce a piece, and a clever poet, could be (like a veritable phoenix), united in one; there would be no reason to be afraid as to the applause of the ignorant then. The poets seem to me something like trumpeters, with their MUTUAL RELATIONS OF MUSIC AND VERSE. mechanical tricks—if we composers were to adhere so closely to our rules (which were well enough as long as we knew no better) we should soon produce music just as worthless as their worthless books."[ 37 ]
"Now I think I have talked nonsense enough for this time"—so Mozart concludes this interesting letter, as he was fond of doing when his desire to justify himself had led him into general aesthetic questions, on which he was averse to expatiating at any length. His opinion as to the relative positions of music and poetry in operatic works is unusually interesting. In complete opposition to Gluck, who considered music as subordinate to poetry, Mozart requires that poetry shall be the handmaid of music. In the sense in which the context shows him to have meant it, he is undoubtedly right. He exacts that the plan of the piece shall be well laid out; that is, that the plot shall be interesting, and shall as it proceeds afford dramatic situations fitted for musical expression. He requires further that the words shall be written merely for the music, that is, that the poetical conceptions shall be of a kind to stimulate the composer, to elevate and support him, while allowing him perfect freedom of thought and action. He had mentioned Osmin's song to Stephanie, and the music was ready before the latter had written a word of the poetry; the words he then prepared accorded so admirably with the musical ideas which had been running in Mozart's head, that faults here and there in the versification did not seem to him of much consequence.
The impulse he required for his musical conceptions was the representation of the dramatis persona in certain definite situations, not the verbal framing of the poet's ideas.[ 38 ] The DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. points which were contained in the verse, and influenced the construction of the musical idea, were to him co-operating but not dominating elements. The words of an opera have a definite object; they provide foundation and support for the musical expression, and are not therefore absolutely independent, as in the drama,[ 39 ] but are obliged to recognise and respect the laws of music, as well as those of poetry. To attain this end a compromise is as indispensable as in every other union of the sister arts. Architecture, in her highest achievements, turns for embellishment to sculpture and painting; and no one has ever doubted that in such co-operation each art must make some concession to the other. The architectural plan must be so conceived as to afford fitting space and position for the sculpture and painting; these, on the other hand, must be introduced with a view to the essential conditions of the building; the pediment, the arch, the metope are not freely selected forms, but constitute the limitations which arise from the necessities of the building. The sculptor modifies his style to suit the character of the building, the painter knows how to give significance to the whole design by skilful composition and combinations of colour on the flat surface of the walls. Doubtless architecture, with her severe laws and inflexible forms, imposes restrictions on the fancies of the artist; but who can imagine that Phidias in the sculptures of the Parthenon, Raphael in the Loggia of the Vatican, renounced their freedom of design or their independence of execution in obedience to the will of the architect? The relation between poetry and music is of the same kind. Mozart saw the necessity for co-operation between the musician and the poet, if the right effect was to be given in its just proportions. The musician must be ready to "give some hints" which shall put the poet in possession of his intentions and of the conditions necessitated by the rules of his art; the poet must be "intelligent," clever, and cultivated enough to fall in with the intentions of the musician, and poet enough to retain his poetical powers in spite of these limitations.
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF MUSIC AND VERSE.
Mozart is quite right in asserting that co-operation of this kind is the surest pledge for an altogether satisfactory opera; unhappily he is quite right also in declaring such a co-opera-tion to be attainable only by "a veritable phoenix."
To a certain degree a mutual understanding is of course indispensable, but it confines itself, as a rule, to an unwilling concession on this or the other side.[ 40 ] Music finally assumes the mastery in opera, where it is the actual medium of expression; no one could deny that good music would make the poorest verse pass muster, whereas bad music could not be made acceptable even when "wedded to immortal verse." But the very fact that music appeals direct to the senses gives it an advantage when opposed to poetry, which reaches the imagination through the intellect; just as a poetical description of a work of art falls far short of the effect produced directly on the mind by contemplation of the work itself. Music works on the sense of hearing in an as yet inexplicable manner, rousing emotions and fancies with an instantaneous power surpassing that of poetry. Even if this be disputed, it must be allowed that music does not appeal immediately to the intellect as language does. Even the species of music which is said to occupy the intellect most especially, viz., music in strict forms of counterpoint, does not do it in such a way as to enable the hearer to discover the meaning of the composition by means of its actual utterances; it exercises his intellect otherwise by rousing the desire in him to grasp and hold the artistic forms as such, and the laws upon which they depend.[ 41 ] Music must borrow from poetry what it does not possess for itself, namely, the ability to call forth a well-defined image which shall identify itself with the sentiment evoked i by the music and give to this its exact significance. This point is, of course, of special importance in opera, although the fact must not be lost sight of that the stage accessories DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. and pantomimic representation come greatly to the aid of the music, so that it is quite possible for an audience to follow an opera with interest and gratification without understanding the language in which it is written. This is a further proof that, important as the poetic details doubtless are, the plot and situations are the really essential points. For the paradox that a libretto if it is to be musical cannot be poetical, but can only have certain external forms of poetic delivery, is certainly false. The conditions of poetic delivery and musical execution are essentially the same, and a distinction between them is impossible. But the means of delivery which the poet has at his disposal are manifold and varied, and not all applicable in the same place; if the poet is master of his art, and has a clear conception of what he is striving after, he will know what are the particular means he ought to employ to be in accord with the musical part of the work.[ 42 ]
Bretzner was very indignant at the proposed alterations in his libretto, and inserted the following notice in the "Berliner Litteratur und Theater-Zeitung" (No. 1783):—
It has pleased some hitherto unknown person in Vienna to take in hand my opera, "Belmont und Constanze," or "Die Entführung aus dem Serail," and to publish the piece in a very altered form. The alterations in the dialogue are not considerable, and may be passed over; but the adapter has inserted a vast number of songs, the words of which are in many cases edifying and touching in the highest possible degree. I would not willingly deprive the improver of the glory belonging to his work, and I therefore take this opportunity of specifying these inserted songs as belonging to the Vienna edition and Mozart's composition.
In conclusion, and after giving "a specimen of the improver's work from the quartet," Bretzner exclaims: "And this is called improvement!" Nevertheless the text was improved, and although far from first-rate, it had been rendered a fairly satisfactory and practicable libretto, which has not yet been very far surpassed in the literature of German comic opera. The plot is certainly not thrilling, but it THE "ENTFÜHRUNG," A GERMAN OPERA. allows the natural development of a succession of musical situations. It was, as we have seen, Mozart's merit to recognise these in his musical representation, to make them available in such a way as to distinguish the "Entführung" from all earlier vaudevilles and operettas.
Mozart's performance was not confined to the adoption of certain ready-developed forms of Italian opera, pressed into the service of the German opera, partly from necessity, partly from the narrow principle that the songs were to be sung by personages of supposed high position.[ 43 ] This would have been no sufficient reason for substituting the aria for the Lied; it was done to give full scope to musical construction, and to make the standard and measure of the execution to consist only in the artistic conditions of the dramatic situations, and in the nature of the musical expression.[ 44 ]
At home as he was in Italian, French and German opera, in sacred and instrumental music, he had obtained such a mastery over musical forms as gave him a freedom of action which his favourable circumstances in Vienna allowed him to make use of, and the fact that he was composing a German opera gave him a sense of a still higher freedom. He was German in every thought and feeling, and German music was his natural way of expressing himself as an artist, requiring no unusual form, no special characterisation, nothing but freedom of thought and action. In the "Entführung," German sentiment, emotion, and disposition found expression for the first time at the hands of a true artist. It is easy to understand how the fulness of life and truth in such a work would throw into the shade all who believed solely in those forms which were borrowed from foreign DIE EXTFÜHRUXG AUS DEM SERAIL. sources, and only superficially remodelled.[ 45 ] This truly German and truly Mozart-like style is nowhere more decidedly exemplified than in the part of Belmont. It is only necessary to note the contrast between the male sopranos of the opera seria, or the comic lovers of the opera buffa, and this Belmont, who expresses manly love in all its force and intensity. It is plain that his love is not the wild and transitory gleam of passion, but an emotion having its roots deep in the heart, sanctified by sorrow, and held with the constancy of a true moral nature. Manliness is the ground-tone of all his agitated sentiments; the steady glow of a well-balanced mind penetrates every" expression of his feelings. It is an easier task to portray the wild excitement of passion than to depict a mind and character in its totality by means of each separate expression;[ 46 ] and the conception of love, the essential motive power of musical drama, from this point of view, marks an era in musical representation, important alike for its national character and its artistic construction. It was not by mere chance that Mozart made the tenor voice, which had been virtually deprived of its proper province in Italian opera, into the organ of manly love and tenderness. Belmont has become a type in German opera. Adamberger, judging from contemporary testimony was the most fitting representative of such a character.[ 47 ] Various songs composed for him by Mozart characterise him as a singer of noble and expressive delivery.[ 48 ]
Belmont's character and tone of mind are drawn in firm lines in his first cavatina (1). His state of anxious suspense is implied rather than fully indicated by his expression of secret devotion. But this little song, which none but a master-hand could have thrown off so lightly and so surely, is of most significance, by reason of its connection with the overture. Mozart makes no remark to his father on the overture except that it was short, and that "it alternates between forte and piano, the Turkish music being always forte, modulated by changes of key, and I do not think any one can go to sleep over it, even if they have lain awake all the night before" (September 26, 1781). As usual, when he speaks of his compositions, he only indicates the means employed and the external effect, and does not attempt any verbal description of the music itself. It is certainly true that a lively and incessant suspense is kept up by the constant modulatory changes, especially from major to minor, and by sharp contrasts of forte and piano. But this is not all; the character of the overture is so singularly fanciful that a few bars suffice to place the hearer in an imaginative mood. The most varied emotions of joy and sorrow are lightly touched, but never held, the tone of the whole is so fresh and cheerful that the listener involuntarily yields to the spell; and the impressions of the new world in which he finds himself are heightened by the highly original tone-colouring. Then comes a slower movement, expressing longing desires in the tenderest, most appealing tones. It has scarcely died away before we are again whirled along our fantastic course, which ends in an appealing cry, followed without a pause by Belmont's cavatina, "Hier soli ich dich denn sehen, Constanze!" We recognise at DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. once the middle movement of the overture, but changed from the minor to the major key. This change, and the difference of shading between the arrangement for the voice and that for the orchestra, give to the charming little movement two distinct expressions, just as the same landscape has two different aspects seen at noon or in the moonlight. The overture renders us free to receive the effect of the work of art as such, prepared by what forms the starting-point of the work; and the first song sets the crown on the overture, while it transports us at once into the frame of mind which predominates throughout the opera. Still more important in its climax and composition is Belmont's second song (4). The situation is more definitely developed; Belmont knows now that Constanze is there, that he will soon see her, and this certainty condenses all the emotions roused by the memory of a sorrowful past, and the prospect of a perilous future, into the one feeling of their speedy reunion. Mozart was so taken with this song that he wrote it down as soon as he received the libretto. "This is the favourite song of all who have heard it—myself included," he wrote to his father (September 26, 1781), "and is exactly calculated for Adamberger's voice. 'Fo wie ängstlich, o wie feurigl' You can imagine how it is expressed, with the very beating of the heart—the violins in octaves. One can see the trembling, the hesitation, the very swelling of the breast is expressed by a crescendo, one can hear the sighs, the whispers, rendered by the violins muted, with one flute in unison."
It would be doing Mozart an injustice to consider this sound-painting as his first object; it is in reality but a subordinate, although a very effective and useful element of the whole musical conception. Belmont's two other songs—one in the second act, before the meeting with Constanze (15),[ 49 ] and the other at the beginning of the third act, before the CONSTANZE. abduction (17)[ 50 ]—are much quieter in tone, and are characterised by manly composure combined with warm sensibility. These qualities are visible also in the musical construction of the broad and expressive cantilene, which allows free scope for the display of a full tenor voice in its best position. The structure of the melodies diverges in a remarkable degree from that which predominates in Mozart's Italian operas, and approaches nearer to that employed in his instrumental music. And yet the national character of the melodies is not so pronounced in the "Entführung" as in the "Zauber-flöte," nor are the songs in their whole design so completely absolved from Italian forms.
The part of Constanze, so far as musical characterisation is concerned, is not nearly so well thought out as that of Belmont. "I have been obliged," writes Mozart to his father (September 26, 1781), "to sacrifice Constanze's song (6) in some degree to the voluble organ of Mdlle. Cavalieri. But I have sought to express 'Trennung war mein banges Loos und nun schwimmt mein Aug' in Thranen' as far as is compatible with an Italian bravura song."[ 51 ] We shall readily allow that he has been so far successful; and that, apart from the inserted bravura passages, the song is not only fine from a musical point of view, but appropriate to the situation. But in the great bravura song of the second act everything has been sacrificed to Mdlle. Cavalieri's voluble organ, and, as Gluck would have said, it smells of music,[ 52 ] It is, as we have seen, inserted without reference to the plot, and this may have led to the further consequence of treating it altogether as an extraneous piece. As regards length and difficulty, it is one of the greatest of bravura songs, and is accompanied by four obbligato instruments—flute, oboe, violin, and DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. violoncello.[ 53 ] Considered as a concert piece it is of importance by reason of the plan, artistic in design and execution, which permits the treatment of the five obbligato parts as integral divisions of the whole, while making due provision for sound effects and musical interest. The song is still often sung, although the glitter surrounding mere execution has passed away. But it does not belong to the "Entführung." Together with the brilliant execution there is a certain heroic tone in the song which is quite out of keeping with the opera and with the character of Constanze in it. The true Con-stanze, as Mozart imagined her, is found in the second air (10), which expresses with much truth and intensity the ardent longing of the maiden sorrowing for her lover. Firmness and assurance are manly attributes, but a dreamy resigned absorption in the contemplation of vanished happiness is proper to a woman, and to this maidenly sentiment Mozart has given beautiful expression. This feminine tone gives the song a certain resemblance to that of Ilia in "Idomeneo" (Vol. II., p. 151); but the latter is, as the situation requires, drawn in darker lines, and takes more hold on the mind. Here as elsewhere the same point is noticeable, viz., that when Mozart works outward from the heart of an individual situation, the separate elements of the musical construction are more striking, and the form is freer and more lifelike than it would otherwise be.[ 54 ]
The instrumentation also is peculiarly effective, especially by the employment of the wind instruments, which shed a gentle glow over the whole. Mozart, against his custom, OSMIN. makes use of the basset-horn instead of the clarinet in this song. In the part of Belmont, too, the instrumentation is modified to some extent. The second song (4) is very delicate and tender in its instrumentation, the wind instruments being treated as solos, although not concertante; in the others there is a very pithy forcible tone, which in the last (16) becomes almost brilliant.
The duet (20), owing to the singularity of the situation, differs materially in character from an ordinary love duet. Within sight of death each of the lovers has the painful consciousness of having led the other to destruction; and their mutual endeavour to console one another with the certainty of their love, which death may consummate but cannot destroy, raises them to the height of enthusiastic inspiration. This sentiment is excellently well expressed in the first calm movement with fervour and clearness, and a perceptible blending of painful emotion and loving consolation; the second movement does not quite reach the same high level. Not only do some of the passages, and the very tedious conclusion, make concessions to passing effect, but the expression does not rise to the ecstatic strain which is implied in the situation.[ 55 ]
The noble forms of the two lovers stand in the sharpest contrast to that of Osmin, which is altogether Mozart's creation, and certainly one of the most original characters of dramatic music. The very way in which he is introduced is masterly. After Belmont has sung his cavatina, which breathes the noblest love and constancy, Osmin comes out of the house to gather figs; he sings a song for his pastime; it is a love song, but one suggested by painful jealousy. The minor key of Osmin's song gives it a wild, desolate expression, in strong contrast to the cheerful candour of the cavatina; many popular songs have this expression, and Osmin's song is successfully imitated from the popular style. The phrasing is clumsy in spite of the marked rhythm, but the effect is quite startling when Osmin in a complacent hum DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. repeats the last words an octave lower, and then at once breaks out into a wild "Trallalera!" The uncouth fellow lolls and stretches so completely at his ease that there cannot be a moment's doubt of how unamiable he will prove to be if any one should venture to cross his path.[ 56 ] This is soon put to the proof. He refuses with assumed indifference to answer Belmont's repeated inquiries, and on the latter interrupting him (involuntarily, as it were, with the melody of his own song, which has so irritated Belmont), the unabashed rudeness of Osmin breaks out in speech. It is as interesting as instructive to note how in this duet the simplest and easiest means of musical representation are used to produce a continuous climax and the most lively characterisation. While it is still in full train Pedrillo enters, and Osmin turns upon him with a fresh outbreak of rage in the song which Mozart had spoken of to his father (3). Again changing his tactics, he endeavours to repress his opponent with all the weight of his dignity and cleverness. Gravity and importance, expressed by the rhythm, the pompous intervals, the syncopated accompaniment, alternate with impatience and haste, when the singer becomes irritated. Very characteristic is the demeanour of Osmin as he complacently nurses the thought: "I have my wits about me!" ("Ich hab' auch Ver-stand!"). He works himself gradually up into a rage, and the threats which he pours forth in a breath fall like blows on the head of the hapless Pedrillo. The effect is produced by the accentuation given to the rapid flow of words; the first fourth of every bar is forcibly given by the orchestra, and the second is taken up by the voice in fifths, and then in octaves. At last he comes to a triumphant close, and one thinks it is all over. But he has only stopped to take breath, and at once resuming his furious course, he ends by completely overpowering his opponent. Mozart writes to his father on the conclusion of this song (September 26, 1781): "The 'Drum beim Barte des Propheten' is in the same time, but the notes are more rapid, and as his anger grows one imagines the climax must be close at hand; the allegro assai OSMIN—TURKISH MUSIC. follows in quite a different time and key, and has an excellent effect. A man in such violent rage oversteps all bounds of moderation, and loses all command over himself, and so must the music. But since," he continues, expressing in simple words that wherein lies the charm of all true art, "since the passions, violent or not, must never be carried to the point of producing disgust, and the music, however thrilling, must never fail to satisfy the ear, consequently must always remain music, I have not chosen a distant key to follow the F (the key of the song) but an allied one; not the nearest key of all, D minor, but the farther one of A minor." In point of fact, the effect of the minor key is extraordinary, both here and in other places where it is only cursorily touched. It adds to the frenzied wildness of the character in which lust and cruelty are blended, and it is emphasised by the strongly marked though monotonous rhythm. And how wonderfully all these characteristics are enhanced by the instrumentation!
"Osmin's rage," writes Mozart, "acquires a comic element by the introduction of the Turkish music." The effect is enhanced by the simplicity which has hitherto characterised the instrumentation. The oboes (with bassoons and horns) predominate until, in the last verse: "Sonderlich beim Monden-scheine," a flute insinuates itself with very good effect. There are many characteristic touches in spite of the scanty means at disposal, as for instance, the mocking entry of the oboe at the words, "Ich hab' auch Verstand."
The Turkish music serves for far more than local colour and characterisation. The expression of fanaticism is coloured as well as heightened by the shrill sound of the piccolo flute, the blows of the drum and cymbals, and the tingle of the triangles.[ 57 ] The bewilderment produced by these DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. instruments, the breathless rapidity of the movement, and the monotony of the rhythm make one feel that giddiness must ensue if it goes on much longer. But Mozart never makes us giddy, he makes use of the most forcible means for characterisation, but never to the point of becoming painful, and all with so much cheerfulness and humour that the total effect is decidedly pleasing.
We make acquaintance with Osmin's boorish character in many different situations; he is true to himself in them all. The second great song (19) contrasts in some measure with the first. He is triumphant, he has his enemies in his power, and he is beside himself with joy; but he retains the same savage nature, and in the midst of all his rejoicing the main point for him is that he can now loll and stretch himself comfortably, which he proceeds to do to his heart's content on the long-sustained A and D, to which he easily carries his scale. Especially characteristic is the middle movement of this song. One seems to see a wild beast, now yawning and stretching, now crouching for a spring; grim cruelty and lustful indolence are wonderfully characterised by the alternation of octaves and dissonant suspensions in the accompaniment, as well as by the triplet passages which are given by the orchestra in unison, as if there could be no harmony here; the expression of joy is mingled with unspeakable brutality, and comes to a climax in the shrill note of exultation at the close.[ 58 ] But Osmin shows himself a true poltroon in the duet with Blondchen (9)—her snappish impudence completely gets the better of him, and although he endeavours to overawe her with the deepest notes of his deep bass voice, her persiflage drives her unwieldy antagonist quite out of the field. The lament which he thereupon sings: "Ihr Englander, seid ihrnicht Thoren, ihr lasst euren Weibem den Willen!" ("You Englishmen, what fools you are, to leave your wives their freedom!") is in contrast to his love song, and completes the conception of it. Here there is nothing of OSMIN. the barbarous nature which showed itself in lust and jealousy, but only the pitiful whining of a slavish soul which trembles before a resolute woman's will. The characterisation of the last movement—when Osmin gives up all appearance of superiority and yields upon every point—is charming, and produced by the simplest musical means. He displays another side of his character in the duet (14) in which Pedrillo induces him to drink.[ 59 ] His senses are soon overcome, and he endeavours to outvie Pedrillo. It is of advantage to the situation that the personality of the singers required that even here Osmin must be considered the chief person; one only needs to hear the arrogance with which he delivers the principal subject in order to feel sure on whom the wine will take strongest effect,[ 60 ] and even when the rapidly concluded entente cordiale is expressed in unison, Osmin's low-pitched octaves keep the upper hand. But here, too, Mozart keeps within bounds, and never goes beyond a joke; Osmin's drunken sleep is excluded from his representation. Osmin's character is least strongly characterised in the terzet (7), of which Mozart writes to his father as follows (September 26, 1781):—
Now for the terzet which concludes the first act. Pedrillo has represented his master as an architect, which affords him an opportunity of meeting his Constanze in the garden. The Pasha has taken him into his service; and Osmin, as overseer, and knowing nothing of this, is insolent to him as a stranger, being himself an unmannerly churl and the arch-enemy of all strangers, and refuses to allow him to enter the garden. The first movement is short, and as the words allowed of it I DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. have kept the three voices fairly well together; but then begins the major pianissimo, which must go very fast, and the conclusion will draw many tears, which is just what the conclusion of a first act should do; the more tears the better—but the shorter the better, so that the audience may not forget the applause.
We see from this that Mozart thought more in this instance of a vivid expression of the situation than of minute characterisation, and all the three characters are alike in their urging and scolding. The advisability, therefore, of keeping the three voices "fairly well" together, their imitative arrangement keeping up the impression of great excitement, is indicated by the situation, although, owing to the necessity for stricter attention to form, the individual characterisation is thereby limited.
Osmin's last appearance in the finale is very amusing. While all the other characters are expressing their gratitude, in the favourite form of a round, Osmin tries in vain to keep in the same track; but the round sticks in his throat, and his angry spite will have vent; the hunting-song of the first act with the obbligato janizaries' music rushes once more past our ears. Although some elements borrowed from the conventional forms of the Italian bass buffo are discernible in the part of Osmin, yet Mozart has made use of them in such an entirely original manner that they are closely interwoven in his own creation. It is, however, the consistency of the individual characterisation which distinguishes the part of Osmin and raises it far above the ordinary buffo parts, causing it to afford a striking instance of Mozart's eminent talent for dramatic construction.
The part requires a performer such as Fischer, of whom Reichardt writes: "He is an excellent bass singer; his voice has the depth of a violoncello, and the height of an ordinary tenor; its compass is—[See Page Image]
so that his deep notes are never harsh, nor his high ones shrill; his voice flows with ease and certainty, and is full of charm. In praise of his style I need only say that he is a FISCHER. worthy pupil of the great tenor Raaff, who was, and still is considered, the best tenor in all Europe. Fischer has a more flexible organ than perhaps any other bass singer, and his acting is as good in serious drama as in comic."
Such materials as this are calculated to bring forth good effects. Among them may be noted the original sense of climax which Mozart produces by repeating a passage an octave lower; this is done in the Lied and in both of Osmin's airs at the words "Ich hab' auch Verstand" (3), and "Denn nun hab ich vor euch Ruh!" (19). The same effect occurs in the beautiful song "Non sö d'onde viene," composed also for Fischer; an expressive and sustained passage is repeated an octave lower, and the effect is very beautiful.
In order to give an adequate idea of Fischer's powers, the two serious songs composed for him by Mozart must be considered along with this decidedly comic part. The above-mentioned, "Non sò d'onde viene" (512 K.), broad in conception and style, displays the whole compass and wealth of Fischer's organ in the most favourable light. The other, "Aspri rimorsi atroce" (432 K.), composed in 1783, is remarkable for the expression of a gloomy, agitated mood, not illumined by any ray of light.
An expressive recitative is followed by a single movement (allegro, F minor) in incessant agitation, the almost uninterrupted triplets of the stringed instruments giving it the character of trembling unrest. The voice part is very striking by reason of its decided rhythm and frequent dissonant intervals; but it is mostly declamatory, and there is no appearance of a cantilene proper; the wind instruments give effect to the strong accents. The whole song pursues its rapid course like a gloomy nocturne, and dies away at last in a dull moan. This song is distinguished among all that Mozart has written by its uninterrupted expression of gloomy passion, and it would be almost inconceivable that he intended it for concert singing, did we not know that Fischer was to sing it: he was unsurpassed in every species of delivery.
The parts of Blondchen and Pedrillo are not by any DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. means so important in their characterisation as those of the principal personages, neither have they much influence on the development of the plot. Blondchen, besides her share in the duet with Osmin, has two songs, of which the first (8) is in no way remarkable, written evidently for a seconda donna. The only point to be noted is a passage going up to—[See Page Image]
which gives proof of Mdlle. Teyber's vocal powers.[ 61 ] The second song (12) is far fresher and more original, and expresses heartfelt joy in so lively and charming a manner, without ever overstepping the province of a good-humoured soubrette, that the hearer is involuntarily beguiled into the same cheerful frame of mind. A German element is unmistakably present (we are reminded of the "Zauberflote"), and we may note the first appearance of those naïve girl-parts common to German opera.[ 62 ]
Mozart has given to Pedrillo's song (15) somewhat of a military tone, suggested perhaps by the opening words "Frisch zum Kampfe!" and although his servile nature is indicated here and there in the accompaniment, the effect of the whole is too forcible and brilliant for the character.[ 63 ] On the other hand, the romanze (18) which he sings in the third act to the guitar is a jewel of delicate characterisation. Not, however, with any reference to Pedrillo himself, for he sings the song, not from personal impulse, but as something he has heard and learnt; but the strange effects of harmony and rhythm, the mixture of bold PEDRILLO—QUARTET. knightly impulse with timid dismay, is so fantastic, so unreal, that we seem to be ourselves in Moorish lands, and are readily persuaded that we are listening to genuine Moorish music. But we are listening, in fact, to no music but Mozart's, whose own mind evolved the music which the situation demanded, without any previous philological study of Moorish national melodies. The two choruses of janizaries (so Mozart calls them in the score[ 64 ] ) are not only characterised by the Turkish airs they embody, but by original harmonies and rhythm which give them a foreign and national character, without any special regard as to whether it is actually Turkish or not.[ 65 ]
We have already had occasion to remark how the ensemble movements proceed naturally from the exigencies of the situation, and are therefore essential to the musical characterisation of the work. This is especially true of the quartet (16), which forms the conclusion of the second act. Belmont and Constanze meet for the first time in the Pasha's garden, where are also Blondchen and Pedrillo. The meeting of the lovers is the more significant, since it is in anticipation of their approaching flight. An unusually elevated tone of sentiment is therefore common to them all; but the particular circumstances produce many different shades of feeling, and each character has its own distinct peculiarities. It is the task of the composer to combine this multifariousness into an artistic whole. The scenic accessories come very happily to his aid. The two pairs of lovers wander about the garden in close converse, so that they are heard sometimes apart, sometimes one after the other, sometimes together, according to the requirements of the situation and of the musical grouping. The beginning is a simple matter. Constanze and Belmont DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. express their feelings in a short duet-like movement, full of heart, such as Mozart has made proper to lovers. When they turn aside Pedrillo and Blondchen advance, deep in consultation on the flight, so that the music assumes a lighter and more cheerful tone. But their thoughts are also occupied with the approaching happy turn in their fortunes, and when Belmont and Constance draw near, they all spontaneously join in the expression of joyful emotion. Small touches betray the master. The consultation between Pedrillo and Blondchen is in A major, and closes with an easy phrase on the words: "Wär der Augenblick schon da!" ("O, that the moment had come!"), very expressive of the girl's character. The orchestra at once takes up this phrase with great emphasis, produced both by the sudden change to the key of D major and by the forcible unison of the instruments, as if they were exclaiming, "It has come!" and then leads back simply and expressively to the leading motif, which now for the first time asserts its full significance:—[See Page Image]
But now the tone grows troubled. Belmont cannot repress a feeling of jealousy, and, embarrassed and confused, he seeks to express his doubts to Constanze, who does not understand him. Pedrillo follows in the same direction to Blondchen, who is far more ready in apprehending his meaning. The oboe gives charming expression to the feelings which the jealous lovers scarcely dare to clothe in words. Then Belmont and Constanze came forward again. The two men speak together, each after his manner—Belmont noble and open, Pedrillo with chattering haste. Constanze bursts into tears, Blondchen answers Pedrillo with a box on the ears; the women lament together, and the men are aware that they have gone too far. After the lively expression of these contrasting emotions in rapid alternation, QUARTET. the lovers emerge from the confusion, explain themselves as to their true feelings, and so prepare for the reconciliation. The short ensemble movement in which Mozart consummates this dénouement (andante 6-8) is one of those passages of which a friend used to say that "der liebe Gott" himself could not have done it better; the purest beauty and a truly holy expression of satisfaction penetrates the simple and unpretending phrase. The magic of such conceptions cannot be rendered in words, nor can it be satisfactorily indicated by what actual means the effect is attained, and yet it is always of interest to see the master in his workshop.
It is easy to see in this case that the key selected (A major) combines with the rhythm and the harmonic treatment to produce the wished-for effect. It gives the voices a pitch allowing of the clearest and most melodious tones, heightened in their effect by the deeper pitch of the accompanying stringed instruments, and it also, although in fact the nearest key to the principal one, produces an impression of surprise as great as though it were a more distant one. This is due to what precedes the adoption of the A major key. The first movement in D major is followed by one in G minor, which leads to E flat major, B minor, F major; D minor is just touched, but only to pass again through C minor and B flat major into G minor, with a rapid transition into E major. After this restless change of key, the passage into A major has a wonderfully tranquillising effect, and the adherence to the key throughout the movement gives it a peculiar charm. But the reconciliation has not yet taken place; the lovers sue for pardon, but the two women allow them first to feel their injustice, and here Blondchen assumes the lead by virtue of her fluent tongue, while the men supplicate more and more earnestly, until at last peace is concluded. This movement is a model of dramatic characterisation. An excellent effect is produced by Blondchen's singing throughout in triplets (12-8 against 4-4), in contrast to the calm flowing melodies for the other voices. The movement only acquires its full significance by contrast with what has preceded it.
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL.
When pardon has been granted, every trace of past sorrow is obliterated by the feeling of complete satisfaction. After so much mental strain a complete relaxation is necessary from a musical point of view. The last movement is therefore very simple, although appropriately brilliant and fiery. It seldom departs from the principal key, and is frequently in canon form; very light passages for the voices, rapid instrumentation, and an unusually effective crescendo at the close, give it an impulsive and quickening effect. This was the first really dramatic ensemble movement in a German opera, and in it we find concentrated all Mozart's services to the German opera—a full and free employment of all the means afforded by song and orchestra to give musical expression to emotion, without subservience to any more binding forms than those laws which are founded on the nature of music.
The masterly treatment of the orchestra in the "Entführung has been repeatedly pointed out, and there is no need to repeat that Mozart turned to account all the advantages offered to him by the Vienna orchestra. In comparison with "Idomeneo" the instrumentation is not exactly scantier, but it is clearer and simpler; the tendency to employ the different instruments independently, to bring forward subordinate subjects, &c., is held in check, and the details are more lightly treated on account of stage effects. "I think I may venture to lay down," says Weber, "that in the 'Entführung' Mozart's artist experience came to maturity, and that his experience of the world alone was to lead him to further efforts. The world might look for several operas from him like 'Figaro' and 'Don Juan,' but with the best will possible he could only write one 'Entführung.' I seem to perceive in it what the happy years of youth are to every man; their bloom never returns, and the extirpation of their defects carries with it some charms which can never be recovered."[ 66 ]