THE IMPRESARIO
The Impresario (Der Schauspieldirektor) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wed. Oct. 1 - 10am & 11:30am
Thu. Oct. 2 - 10am & 11:30am (Schools only)
Sat. Oct. 4 - 2pm (Open to the public)
First Congregational Church, New London
Setting: A theater manager's office.
Frank, court impresario, tries to recruit opera performers for his playhouse. He has concerns especially when his assistant, Mr. Buff, informs him that the court has decreed the season must be exclusively opera. Buff has ambitions to be a singer and assures Frank the theatre will make profits if he considers him for a role. The rich banker Vogelgesang offers to support if Madame Silverklang, his aging diva mistress, is used. Frank reluctantly accepts. Soon enough, Vogelgesang pushes another soprano, his younger mistress Miss Herz. Difficulties with the two jealous prima donnas ensue. Frank announces retirement. Vogelgesang becomes the new impresario.
The German Singspiel - comedy with music, performed in German with spoken dialogue – had developed to a popular genre towards the end of the 18th century, even challenging the Italian opera buffa, where the musical numbers were linked by sung recitatives. In an attempt to prove the viability of the Singspiel the Austrian Emperor Joseph II commissioned two works – one from each genre – to be performed on the same occasion in the Orangery at Schönbrunn on 7 February 1786. They were supposed to deal with the same subject: the creation of an opera and the establishment of an opera company.
The competitors were Mozart, who composed the Singspiel Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) and his Italian rival – and once supposed to be his murderer – Salieri with the buffa Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words) – a theme that Richard Strauss also dealt with in Capriccio. To the disappointment of the Emperor, Salieri was the winner, more perhaps thanks to a superior libretto than the quality of the music. In terms of quantity Salieri also won hands down: he provided an overture and thirteen musical numbers plus recitatives while Mozart’s score comprises an overture, two soprano arias, a trio and a vaudeville.
