I can give you no present information as to the intended German opera, as (with the exception of the alterations at the Karnthnerthor-theater) everything goes on very quietly. It is to be opened at the beginning of October. I do not prophesy a very prosperous result. It seems to me that the plans now formed are more likely to end in the final overthrow of the temporarily depressed German opera, than in its elevation and support. My sister-in-law Lange alone is to be allowed to join the German company. Cavalieri, Adamberger, Teyber, all pure Germans, of whom our fatherland may be proud, are to stay in the Italian theatre, to oppose and rival their own countrymen. German singers at present may be easily counted! And even if they be as good MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER. as those I have named, which I very much doubt, the present management appears to me too economical and too little patriotic to think of paying the services of strangers, when they can have as good or better on the spot. The Italian troupe has no need of them in point of numbers; it can stand alone. The present idea is to employ acteurs and actrices for the German opera who sing from need; unfortunately the very men are retained as the directeurs of the theatre and the orchestra who have contributed by their want of knowledge and energy to the downfall of their own edifice. If only a single patriot were to come to the fore, it would give the affair another aspect. But in that case, perhaps, the budding national theatre would break forth into blossom; and what a disgrace it would be to Germany if we Germans once began in earnest to think, or act, or speak and even—to sing German! Do not blame me, my dear sir, if I go too far in my zeal. Convinced that I am addressing a fellow German, I give my tongue free course, which unfortunately is so seldom possible that after such an outpouring of the heart one feels that one might get drunk without any risk of injuring one's health.
The performances of the new German opera, which opened on October 16, 1785, with Monsigny's "Félix," were in no respect equal to those of the Italian opera. Mozart, whose "Entführung" maintained its place in the repertory until March, 1788, when the house was again closed, was not further employed as composer.[ 9 ] Only on one occasion did the Emperor seem to recollect that Mozart was the only opera composer of German birth who could rival the Italian Salieri. At a "Festival in honour of the Governor-General of the Netherlands," dramatic performances were commanded by the Emperor in the Orangery at Schönbrunn, on February 7, 1796; the most distinguished actors and singers, both Italian and German, were engaged.[ 10 ] Stephanie junior was commissioned to prepare the German occasional DER SCHAUSPIELDIRECTOR, 1786. piece; it was called "Der Schauspieldirector."[ 11 ] The dramatis persona were as follows:—[See Page Image]
The plot consists in the difficulties of Frank, the manager, in engaging a company for a theatre he has received permission to open in Salzburg. Many actors and actresses offer their services, and perform favourite scenes by way of testing their ability, the piece concluding with a similar trial of operatic music. The piece was loosely put together, and its main interest consisted in allusions to the passing events in the theatrical world; these are sometimes too palpable and rather coarse. Casti's little Italian opera, written for the same occasion, "Prima la Musica e poi le Parole" is, on the contrary, really witty and amusing, and allows the composer scope for a genuine musical work. Salieri, whose music, according to Mozart, was tolerable, but nothing more,[ 12 ] thus gained a great advantage over Mozart, to whom was entrusted the musical portion of the German piece. There could here, of course, be no question of dramatic interest and individual characterisation. The two singers bring their airs with them as prepared trials of skill. The object was to mark the contrast between them. The two songs are alike in design, with one slow and one agitated movement, and they further resemble each other in their mixture of sentimentality and gaiety, and in the number of bravura passages, MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER. which sometimes go to a considerable height. It is in the details that everything is different, even to the instrumentation, and that the sharpest possible contrast is maintained both in the parts and style of delivery. There is no great liveliness of movement until—the manager being perplexed to make his choice between the two—they fall to quarrelling, each of them reiterating with increasing warmth: "Ich bin die beste Sangerin." Thereupon the tenor comes to the rescue, and seeks to allay the irritation of the enraged ladies, giving occasion for a comic terzet full of life and humour. This was composed by Mozart, probably because it amused him, on January 18, 1786, although the play was not finished until February 3. Although the situation in itself cannot be said to possess much interest, there is a certain charm in the piece, and the forms which are usually only of artistic significance have here a substantial basis. The imitations with which the singers follow on each other's heels, the passages in which they run up to a fabulous height, the alternation of rapid parlando with affected delivery and extraordinary passages—all these not only take effect as means of dramatic characterisation, but give the hearers the pleasure of deciding for themselves which of the two aspirants really is the best singer. The peacemaking tenor attaches., himself now to one, now to the other singer, and then again opposes them both, giving a certain amount of dignity to the dispute by means of musical and dramatic contrasts. Indeed the whole scene is so lively, so gay, so free from caricature, and so euphonious, that the terzet may well claim a place with more important works. The concluding operatic piece is a vaudeville. Each solo voice delivers a verse of the song, passing with characteristic modifications into the principal motif, which takes the form of a chorus. The bass voice comes last; the actor Buf gives his decision for the first buffo. This was Lange, who himself used to say that he could only make a singer at need (Selbtsbiographie, p. 126), and who thus ironically parodied his own words.
Mozart also wrote an overture to the piece, in which, less bound by the triviality of the text, he could move more DER SCHAUSPIELDIRECTOR, 1786. freely. It consists of a single movement in quick time. The first bars—[See Page Image]
fall at once into the tone of the whole, and form in their contrasting elements the motifs which are afterwards intersected in the working-out. The two subsequent better-sustained melodies possess in their easy imitative movement, the charm of a lively, excited conversation, the transition passage forming a piquant contrast; in short, the whole overture resembles a comedy with the different characters and intrigues crossing each other, until at last all ends well. The whole festival was twice repeated at the Kamthnerthortheater soon after the performance at Schönbrunn.[ 13 ]
Several later attempts were made to give the piece more action and more music, so as to preserve Mozart's work on the stage.
When Goethe undertook the management of the court theatre at Weimar in 1791, numerous Italian and French operas were arranged to German words by the indefatigable concertmeister Kranz and the industrious theatrical poet, Vulpius.[ 14 ] Goethe, being in Rome in the summer of 1787, was extremely amused by the performance of an intermezzo, "L' Impresario in angustie,"[ 15 ] which Cimarosa had composed in the Carnival of the previous year (at the same time as Mozart's "Schauspieldirector") for the Teatro Nuovo at Naples.[ 16 ] He at once had it arranged as a comic opera, with the title of "Theatralische Abenteuer," and the whole of the music to Mozart's "Schauspieldirector" introduced.[ 17 ]
It was performed at Weimar on October 24,1791, with great success, and afterwards repeated with alterations[ 18 ] on other stages during a considerable time.
In Vienna, after the operetta had again been thrice performed in 1797, an experiment was made in 1814 with an increased adaptation by Stegmeyer, but without lasting success.[ 19 ] Within the last few years L. Schneider has made a false step in the publication of the "Schauspieldirector, or Mozart und Schikaneder."[ 20 ] Wishing to preserve Mozart's music free from foreign contact, he chose out some songs, which were suitably instrumentalised by Taubert, and fitted fairly well into the new piece.[ 21 ] But in order to give the plot more interest he fell into the unpardonable error of making Mozart himself the hero of the opera, composing the "Zauberflöte"