Organization

Zanger

Tenor

Kresimir Spicer

Alessandro

Soprano

Annette Dasch

Aminta

Marlis Petersen

Elisa

Arpiné Rahdjian

Tamiri

Andreas Karasiak

Agenore

Dirigent

Thomas Hengelbrock

Regisseur

Set designer

Mirella Weingarten

Kostuum ontwerper

Salzburger Festspiele

Il re pastore

Salzburg

Oostenrijk

Große Universitätsaula

Salzburg 1775: The 19-year-old Mozart was certainly not lacking in self-confidence when in March he was commissioned by the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop Colloredo to compose an opera for the visit of Archduke Maximilian Franz. He sets a libretto by the imperial court poet Pietro Metastasio to music, which the most famous composers of his era such as Gluck, Hasse and Galuppi had set to music before him: "Il re pastore" (The King as Shepherd), dramma per musica in two acts.
Mozart's serenata, composed in just one month, already clearly points to the later masterpieces in terms of melody and instrumental development. Posterity, of course, neglects the Pastorale, which is one of Mozart's least known musical dramas. Large, dramatic scenes and extreme effects are missing here, instead there is an intimate tone, which Thomas Hengelbrock, the conductor and director of the Salzburg production, describes as follows: "Il re pastore reveals the entire lyrical genius of Mozart. There are moments in which the dramatic plot pauses and wonderful islands of calm open up. Mozart's music shows a standard of complexity that was hardly reached by any other composer at the time."
The plot revolves around the king's son Aminta, who lives unrecognized as a shepherd in the Phoenician mountains and is looking forward to marrying his beloved Elisa. Alessandro, who has just conquered the city of Sidon, wants to find the rightful heir to the throne and gets the tip from his adviser Agenore that it is Aminta who is not aware of his origins. Alessandro then wants to crown him and at the same time marry Tamiri, the daughter of the fallen ruler, who - unfortunately - is Agenore's lover. Agenore and Tamiri want to bow to duty and deny their love, but Aminta resists and renounces the crown rather than relinquish Elisa. The touched Alessandro then agrees to the marriage of Aminta to Elisa as well as Agenores to Tamiri,
For Thomas Hengelbrock, who is conducting and arranging the work, the performance fulfills a long-cherished wish. "Our scenic version will be based on the circumstances of the premiere, which took place in the Salzburg Residence and not in a theatre: I'm interested in a precise character guidance that arises from the spirit of the music."
Thomas Hengelbrock gets rid of "Il re pastore" in favor of the comprehensibility of the pompous splendor and shifts the events into a space between rehearsal experiment and historical references. Alternating between an inside and outside perspective of the stage, with clear costumes and minimal props, he succeeds in refreshing the original at speed, effortlessly transferring the moralizing plot to the present day.

Il re pastore Mozart

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