Mozart on the Stage John A

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information Mozart on the Stage Presenting a fresh approach to Mozart’s achievements as a composer for the stage, John A. Rice outlines the composer’s place in the operatic culture of his time. The book tells the story of how Mozart’s operas came into existence, following the processes that Mozart went through as he brought his operas from commission to performance. Chapters trace the fascinating series of interactions that took place between Mozart and librettists, singers, stage designers, orchestras, and audiences. In linking the operas by topic, Rice emphasizes what Mozart’s operas have in common, regardless of when he wrote them and the genres to which they belong. The book demonstrates how Mozart’s entire operatic oeuvre is the product of a single extraordinary mind and a single pan-European operatic culture. john a. rice has taught music history at the University of Washington, Colby College, the University of Houston, the University of Texas, and the University of Alabama (where, in 2005, he occupied the Endowed Chair in Music). He is the author of W. A. Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (1991), Antonio Salieri and Viennese Opera (1998, winner of the American Musicological Society’s Kinkeldey Award), Empress Marie Therese and Music at the Viennese Court, 1792–1807 (2003), and The Temple of Night at Schönau: Architecture, Music, and Theater in a Late Eighteenth-Century Viennese Garden (2006). © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information Adriana Ferrarese, who portrayed Susanna in the 1789 revival of Le nozze di Figaro and created the role of Fiordiligi in Cos`ı fan tutte. This portrait pays tribute to her performances in London in 1785–86, where she sang in both serious and comic opera, winning applause (as the poem attests) for her acting as well as her voice. Engraving by Allanesi. New York Public Library, Muller Collection. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information Mozart on the Stage john a. rice © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb28ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521016612 c John A. Rice 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2008 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Rice, John A. Mozart on the stage / John A. Rice. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-81634-2 (hardback) – isbn 978-0-521-01661-2 (pbk.) 1. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756–1791. Operas. 2. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756–1791 – Criticism and interpretation. 3. Opera – 18th century. 4. Opera – Production and direction – History – 18th century. 5. Opera – Stage-setting and scenery – History – 18th century. I. Title. ml410.m9r538 2008 782.1092 – dc22 2008033466 isbn 978-0-521-81634-2 hardback isbn 978-0-521-01661-2 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information For Daniel Heartz on his eightieth birthday © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information contents List of illustrations viii List of abbreviations x Preface xi 1 Mozart in the theater 1 2 Mozart’s operas: function, genres, archetypes 19 3 Commissions, fees, and the origins of Mozart’s operas 39 4 Mozart and his librettists 73 5 Composition 91 6 Mozart and his singers 113 7 Rehearsal, revision, and promotion 135 8 Theaters and stage design 161 9 The audience 195 10 Performance and reception 213 Notes 238 Bibliography 261 Index 270 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information illustrations Frontispiece Adriana Ferrarese, who portrayed Susanna in the 1789 revival of Le nozze di Figaro and created the role of Fiordiligi in Cos`ı fan tutte. page ii 2.1 The stage and part of the auditorium of the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice 24 2.2 Ball in the Regio Ducal Teatro, Milan (1747), in celebration of the birth of Archduke Peter Leopold 25 2.3 Ball in the Nostitz Theater, Prague 26 2.4 Carnival ball (14 January 1765) on the stage of the Cuvilliés Theater, Munich 27 2.5 Audience in the Cuvilliés Theater, Munich, dressed as if for a Carnival ball 28 2.6 Mid-eighteenth-century Italian operatic performance, probably Giuseppe Carcani’s Tigrane in the Regio Ducal Teatro of Milan during Carnival 1750 29 5.1 Continuity sketches for two arias in Le nozze di Figaro, act 3 93 5.2 Cos`ı fan tutte, act 1, scene 11 107 5.3 Cos`ı fan tutte, act 1, scene 4 108 5.4 “Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo,” mm. 1–8 and 19–25 109 5.5 Cos`ı fan tutte, act 2, scene 12 110 5.6 Cos`ı fan tutte, act 1, scene 2 111 7.1 Playbill for the first performance of Le nozze di Figaro 157 7.2 Playbill for the first performance of Cos`ı fan tutte 158 7.3 Playbill for the first performance of Die Zauberflöte 159 8.1 Theater am Salvatorplatz (Salvatortheater), Munich (1686) 162 8.2 Theater am Salvatorplatz, Munich. Proscenium framing a design by Domenico and Gasparo Mauro for a nocturnal scene in Agostino Steffani’s Servio Tullio (1686) 163 8.3 Longitudinal section and plan of the Regio Ducal Teatro, Milan 164 8.4 Interior of the Cuvilliés Theater, Munich, Gustav Seeberger (1867) 165 viii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information List of illustrations ix 8.5 Part of the Michaelerplatz, Vienna, with the Burgtheater on the right 166 8.6 Longitudinal section and plan of the Nostitz Theater, Prague 167 8.7 Plans of five theaters for which Mozart wrote operas, reproduced at the same scale: (a) Regio Ducal Teatro, Milan (b) Cuvilliés Theater, Munich (c) Burgtheater, Vienna (d) Nostitz Theater, Prague (e) Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna 168 8.8 Longitudinal section of the Cuvilliés Theater, Munich 170 8.9 Emanuel Schikaneder as Lubano in Der Stein der Weisen, act 1, scene 14, as performed in the Theater auf der Wieden 171 8.10 Nostitz Theater, Prague. Section showing the proscenium and stage 172 8.11 Luigi Marchesi and Caterina Cavalieri in Sarti’s Giulio Sabino in the Kärntnertortheater (August 1785) 177 8.12 Interior of a theater, probably the Burgtheater, Vienna 178 8.13 “Sala terena destinata per le publiche udienze.” Stage design by Pietro Travaglia 182 8.14 Stage design by Pietro Travaglia, possibly intended for La clemenza di Tito, act 1, scenes 4–5 and 11–14 183 8.15 Travaglia’s drawing of a “Sala terena destinata per le publiche udienze,” completed digitally and by hand 184 8.16 Fabrizio Galliari, stage design for act 1 of Lucio Silla 185 8.17 Speculative distribution of the elements of Fabrizio Galliari’s set design among six wing flats 185 8.18 Fabrizio Galliari, stage design for act 1 of Lucio Silla 186 8.19 Luigi Bassi, who created the role of Don Giovanni in Prague 188 8.20 Stage design by Joseph Platzer 189 8.21 Medard Thoenert’s engraving of Luigi Bassi in the role of Don Giovanni superimposed on Norbert Bittner’s engraving of a stage design by Joseph Platzer 190 8.22 Emanuel Schikaneder as Lubano, Barbara Gerl as Lubanara, and Franz Gerl as Eutifronte in Der Stein der Weisen, act 1, scene 14 192 8.23 Speculative reconstruction of the stage of the Theater auf der Wieden, as arranged for Der Stein der Weisen, act 1, scenes 7–14 193 10.1 Mozart at a performance of Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Berlin on 19 May 1789 232 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-01661-2 - Mozart on the Stage John A. Rice Frontmatter More information abbreviations Anderson The Letters of Mozart and His Family, trans. and ed. Emily Anderson, 3rd edn., New York, 1985 Deutsch Mozart: A Documentary Biography, ed. Otto Erich Deutsch, trans. Eric Blom, Peter Branscombe, and Jeremy Noble, 2nd edn., London, 1966 Eisen New Mozart Documents: A Supplement to O. E. Deutsch’s Documentary Biography, Stanford, CA, 1991 MBA Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, ed. Wilhelm A. Bauer, Otto Erich Deutsch, and Joseph Heinz Eibl, expanded edn., 8 vols., ed.

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