Mozart: Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail

The 1782 premiere in Vienna of Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail brought Mozart unprecedented public and professional success. This dazzling triumph did not come by chance. With music placing the accent on exoticism and a libretto celebrating the ideas of the Enlightenment, the opera ran counter to contemporary prejudices concerning the Ottoman Empire. In championing a German national opera, Mozart gave an important place to the spoken dialogue, often severely cut, but fully restored and brought to life here by Rene Jacobs and the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, to underline the astounding modernity of the text.