The Mozart Project: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Mozart's singspiel put German opera on the map.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The grappling hook: essential equipment for any staging of Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

In 1781, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph II wanted to promote singspiel (German opera with spoken dialogue instead of recitative) as an alternative to the Italian opera that dominated the stage in the 18th century. He decreed the founding of the Nationalsingspiel, a company dedicated to performance of Gernab opera. Its first and most enduring production was Mozart's 1782 opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio.") It is the earliest of the composer's German operas to hold a continued place in the standard international repertory, and the oldest German opera that is regularly heard today.