emmanuel music Ryan Turner ARTISTIC DIRECTOR John Harbison PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR Craig Smith FOUNDER (1947 - 2007) Patricia Krol EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michael Beattie ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATOR Jude Epsztein DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Donald Firth CONTROLLER Joanna Springer COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Dayla Arabella Santurri PR/MARKETING ASSOCIATE Jayne West COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS COORDINATOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADVISORY BOARD Kate Kush PRESIDENT Belden Hull Daniels Errol Morris Dale Flecker VICE PRESIDENT Richard Dyer Mark Morris David Vargo TREASURER Anthony Fogg Joan Nordell Eric Reustle CLERK The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates James Olesen Elizabeth S. Boveroux John Harbison Richard Ortner Marion Bullitt Rose Mary Harbison Ellis L. Phillips, III H. Franklin Bunn Ellen T. Harris Peter Sellars Coventry Edwards-Pitt David Hoose Russell Sherman David Kravitz Richard Knisely Sanford Sylvan Patrice Moskow Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Christoph Wolff Charles Sherman Robert Levin Benjamin Zander Vincent Stanton, Jr. Dana Whiteside The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz, ex-officio 15 Newbury Street | Boston, MA 02116 | 617.536.3356 | emmanuelmusic.org SYNOPSIS THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO Singspiel, 1782 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Libretto by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner, adapted by Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger Sung in German with English dialogue, adapted from J.D. McClatchy SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015 – 8:00 PM Pre-concert conversation at 6:45 PM with Dr. Elizabeth Seitz Konstanze Barbara Kilduff, soprano Sponsored by Butler and Lois Lampson Belmonte Charles Blandy, tenor Blonde Teresa Wakim, soprano Sponsored by Robert N. Shapiro Pedrillo Jason McStoots, tenor Osmin Donald Wilkinson, bass Pasha Selim Richard Dyer Chorus of Janissaries The Orchestra and Chorus of Emmanuel Music Ryan Turner, conductor Nathan Troup, director Tonight’s performance is made possible through the generosity of Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky The audience is cordially invited to join Ryan Turner and the musicians at a post-concert reception in the Parish Hall directly following the performance. This project is funded in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events. SYNOPSIS ACT I. Turkey, 1700s. Pasha Selim has bought three Europeans from pirates - Konstanze, a Spanish woman of good family; Blonde, her English maid; and THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO Pedrillo, servant of Konstanze’s fiancé, Belmonte. Belmonte has traced them Singspiel, 1782 to a seaside palace, where Konstanze has become the pasha’s favorite and Pe- drillo, the gardener. Blonde has been given as a gift by the pasha to his over- WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART seer, Osmin. Having arrived at the palace, Belmonte’s first encounter is with Libretto by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner, Osmin, who acts polite until Belmonte mentions Pedrillo, his rival for Blonde. adapted by Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger He drives Belmonte away and then rails at Pedrillo, who has come in hopes of making peace with him. Belmonte returns to find his former servant, who tells Sung in German with English dialogue, adapted from J.D. McClatchy him the pasha loves Konstanze but will not force himself on her. Pedrillo will try to arrange a meeting between Konstanze and Belmonte and an escape by boat with Blonde, if they can get past Osmin. In hiding, Belmonte yearns for SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015 – 8:00 PM Konstanze, who soon appears with Pasha Selim. When the pasha asks her why she is always depressed by his courtship of her, Konstanze replies she cannot forget her love for her fiancé. After she leaves, Pedrillo introduces Belmonte to the pasha as a promising young architect. Pasha Selim welcomes him and, departing, arranges a conference for the next day. Osmin bars the way when Belmonte and Pedrillo try to enter the palace, but he is confused easily, and the two foreigners march him around in circles. Dizzy, Osmin does not notice they Sponsored by Butler and Lois Lampson have gained access. BRIEF PAUSE ACT II. In a garden, Blonde confounds Osmin with her cleverness and faces Sponsored by Robert N. Shapiro him down when he threatens her. Konstanze finds Blonde and complains of her sad state, which does not improve when the pasha again asks her to marry him. She proudly refuses, preferring torture, even death. When they have gone, Blonde and Pedrillo dance into the garden, discussing their plan of escape: they will get Osmin drunk, and all four lovers will leave on Belmonte’s ship. Later, Pedrillo goes about his business, finding Osmin cooperative, though drinking wine is against the Muslim religion. Thoroughly inebriated, the fat man weaves away with the bottle, leaving the coast clear for Belmonte to meet Konstanze. Their reunion is shared by Blonde and Pedrillo. INTERMISSION ACT III. Just before midnight, Pedrillo places a ladder against the ladies’ win- dow and sings a serenade, the signal for escape. But he wakes Osmin, who is not too hung over to realize what is going on and takes them all to the pasha, who is angry. Belmonte suggests the pasha collect a handsome ransom from his wealthy family, the Lostados. At this, the pasha realizes that Belmonte is the son of an old enemy, the man who exiled him from his own country. But even- tually he decides that rather than take blood for blood he will repay evil with good, freeing Konstanze and Belmonte, even Blonde and Pedrillo. This does not sit well with Osmin, who will lose Blonde, but he is promised other rewards. The grateful lovers praise their benefactor as they prepare to set sail. - courtesy of Opera News PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES In January of 1781, the then 25-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was enjoy- ing the success of his new opera, Idomeneo, in Munich when he was ordered to Vienna by his employer, the dour Archbishop of Salzburg. Mozart had long had a fraught relationship with the Archbishop, but in Vienna it was particularly tense. It was in June of 1781 when things came to a head, and instead of re- turning with the Archbishop to Salzburg, Mozart decided to quit his job (some would say that he was fired) and stay in Vienna permanently. He chose to re- main in Vienna for several reasons. First and foremost was his desire to write opera. Unlike the more conservative theater audiences in Salzburg, the Vien- nese loved opera. Moreover, Emperor Joseph II not only enjoyed Italian opera, but also had recently inaugurated the German National Theater (Burgtheater) to cater to German singspiel, a genre of musical theater that often included simpler folk-like arias, songs and ensembles as well as spoken dialogue. The other reason for Mozart’s desire to stay in Vienna was more personal. The We- ber family, whom Mozart had met years before in Mannheim, was now living in Vienna, and he had fallen in love with the 19-year-old Constanza Weber. During the remainder of 1781 and the first half of 1782, Mozart busily worked to establish himself as the premiere composer in Vienna. He took on new stu- dents, performed regularly, wrote music at a furious pace and began publish- ing. One of the pieces that took up much of his time was his new singspiel, The Abduction from the Seraglio, commissioned by Joseph II for the German National Theater. The plot of the singspiel tapped into the current fascination that the Viennese had with all things Turkish, as well as providing them with a conventional rescue story, particularly popular in the singspiel genre. The noblewoman, Konstanze, with her maid and man-servant, are captured by a Turkish Pasha and held in his harem. The hero, Belmonte, finds the prisoners and attempts a rescue, but is unfortunately caught in the act. The Pasha, however, forgives all and releases the prisoners. In the final scene, the characters extol the most important virtue of all, that of forgiveness. The subject had been set to music before by Johann André, with a libretto by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner. Mozart, ever the consummate dramatist, worked with his librettist, Gottlob Stephanie, Jr., the stage manager at the Imperial Court Opera in Vienna, to make extensive changes to the original libretto in an attempt to round out the one-dimensional stock characters of the original and to imbue the work with more gravity. PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES For example, Mozart insisted on augmenting the role played by the Pasha’s servant, Osmin. Originally, the part was a small one, but Mozart expanded it considerably to further heighten the theme of forgiveness in the work, thereby creating one of the most memorable characters in all of opera. Osmin is the only character who remains unbending and unchanged even after the Pasha forgives all. He is pitied at the end of the opera, because of his inability to un- derstand the value of love and the importance of compassion. Mozart also changed the story’s ending in a particularly important way. In the original, Bel- monte is saved because the Pasha realizes that Belmonte is his long lost son. In Mozart’s version, Belmonte is the son of the Pasha’s worst enemy. In this way, the Pasha’s act of forgiveness is more magnanimous and surprising. The music that Mozart wrote for the work still sounds fresh and exuberant to- day. To set the exotic scene, Mozart used Janissary (Turkish) music, complete with cymbals, bass drum and piccolos, in the overture and in various choruses. He also used his versatile style to reflect the new libretto’s well-rounded char- acters. Lesser composers wrote music for singspiels as merely light entertain- ment; Mozart instead gives us music that inhabits the world of both serious drama and the liveliest of comedy.