Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio)

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

This Mozart opera from 1782 is the greatest example of a special sub-genre of lyric theater in the eighteenth century; the "Turkish" opera. Often comic in nature, such operas presented a love story/rescue melodrama and were set in some Levantine location. Practically every composer of any stature in Mozart's time tried his hand at Turkish opera. Mozart's Abduction is also a Singspiel, an 18th century form of German popular musical comedy with spoken dialog.

There are plenty of good recordings of The Abduction around. On Sunday, October 4, 1992 I broadcast a Sony Classical release recorded in Vienna in 1991. Bruno Weil conducted the Vienna Symphony and the chorus of the Vienna State Opera. An American soprano Cheryl Studer sang the role of the abducted European girl, Konstanze.

The British label L'Oiseau Lyre (a subdivision of Decca) came out with a recording of Die Entführung aus dem Serail on two CDs in 1990. Recorded in London that year, a British soprano Lynn Dawson was cast as Konstanze. The most interesting character in this Mozart opera is Osmin, the overseer of the Pasha's harem. Here the role is taken by a German basso, Gunther von Kannen. Writing for Fanfare magazine (Mar/Apr, 1992 issue), James Kamner was forced to admit he really liked the L'Oiseau Lyre Abduction. "It is by far the best performance on records...I have never been a proponent of original instruments, nor do I worship at the altar of "authenticity." But...for this reviewer, L'Oiseau Lyre's Entführung represents the first completely successful recording of a Mozart opera utilizing original instruments. Chief credit for its success must go to the conductor Christopher Hogwood..." Hogwood leads the period instrument ensemble he founded, the Academy of Ancient Music Orchestra,as well as the Academy's Chorus.