Mozart, WA :: Three Arias

Three Arias

Mozart, WA

International Music Company presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Three Arias from The Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail) arranged and edited for flute, violin, viola, and cello by Graham Bastable.

'Barely a century after Ottoman Empire was fought off at the gates of Vienna, Mozart wrote his comic opera, 'Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail'. The plot is simple: Three Europeans - Konstanza, and the servants Blonde and Pedrillo - are kidnapped by pirates and are held captive by Pasha Selim with his overseer Osmin. Konstanza's fiance Belmonte comes to the rescue.

The Ottoman Empire had been well-cemented by this time into the popular Viennese imagination as exotic, Orientalist stereotypes: Turkish despotism, cruelty, baskwardness, etc. Osmin, the ill-tempered oaf, steals the show as the comic villain. The show was a hit.

The three numbers in this edition come from Act II. In 'Welche Wonne, welche Lust', Blond is overjoyed to learn that she will be rescued. In 'Durch Zartlichkeit und Schmeicheln', Blond rebuffs advances by Osmin. In 'Vivat Bacchus! Bacchus lebe!', Pedrillo outwits Osmin. He entices Osmin with wine, who then falls into a drunken stupor, allowing the captives to escape. This 'drunken duet' (in Mozart's words) exemplifies the composer's alla turca style. The pit orchestra uses trumpets, cymbals, triangle, and drums to imitate Turkish Janissary bands. I have tried to capture this effect using pizzicatos and multiple stops.'

- Graham Bastable, 2011