Puppet Theatre:
Mozart und Salieri - The Opera

MOZART AND SALIERI – THE OPERA

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's chamber opera about the legend of the two rivals comes to the stage with marionettes and live music as part of Mozart Week 2024.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - the reckless, maladjusted genius, from whose pen one work after another flows; and Antonio Salieri - the embittered court composer, who painstakingly wrests note after note from himself and is inwardly consumed by envy ...

Long before Miloš Forman's film Amadeus (1984), the legend of the two rivals was already present in literature and music: in 1832, Alexander Pushkin wrote his verse drama Mozart and Salieri, in which he takes up the then widespread rumor that Salieri had poisoned Mozart.

In Pushkin's version, however, the murder does not arise from the mere emotion of jealousy, but is carefully thought out and justified: Salieri recognizes in Mozart a genius who does not treat his "gift from God" with humility and fails in his duty and function as a role model through his frivolous lifestyle. Salieri wants to eliminate the unworthy Mozart out of a deep sense of justice in order to make a valuable contribution to the history of music.

This portrayal has little to do with historical reality - in Pushkin's work, the two composers become artistic figures who can be used to shed light on central questions about the purpose of the artist and the value of diligence and talent. Questions that also preoccupy Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov when he sets the drama as a one-act opera in 1897. He emphasizes the contrast between the two opponents musically and also incorporates quotations from works by Mozart and Salieri, which Pushkin had already intended for his drama.

The opera will be staged as a co-production by the International Mozarteum Foundation, Salzburg Marionette Theater and Mozarteum University on the occasion of Mozart Week 2024.

Director Matthias Bundschuh is also responsible for the set and gives the work a new twist with his own German version of the text.

The evening also has a few surprises in store: The fictional story of how Salieri once came by his poison unfolds in an extensive prelude, accompanied by music from works by Antonio Salieri. Students from the Mozarteum University Salzburg will sing and play under the direction of Kai Röhrig.

 Duration: approx. 60 minutes (no intermission)

Recommended from the age of 12