A rarely-performed work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The ballet music from his opera “Idomeneo”. The music was part of the original opera, premiered in 1781. Leo Hussain conducts the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra. The performance took place in 2018 as part of the “Pianomania!” concert series in the Grand Auditorium at the the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
00:28 Chaconne
09:41 Pas seul (de Mr Le Grand)
13:44 Passe-pied (pour Mademoiselle Redwen)
17:20 Gavotte
19:29 Passacaille
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote the opera “Idomeneo” in the winter of 1780/81. In September 1780, he’d been commissioned to write a “grand opera” for the Munich carnival. Although he was just 24 years old at the time, he’d already been composing successfully for almost 20 years. He wrote his first pieces at the age of five; his first symphony at the age of eight. The Italian libretto for “Idomeneo” was written by Giambattista Varesco (1735-1805). Mozart was proud of “Idomeneo” and described it as his best opera so far. The work was given its world premiere on 29 January 1781 at the Residence Theater in Munich, along with the ballet music section.
“Idomeneo” (K. 366) is an Italian-language choral opera in the Baroque tradition of “opera seria”, although Mozart repeatedly breaks with this dramatic style. The opera tells the story of the Cretan King Idomeneus, who upon returning home from the Trojan War, gets caught up in a terrible storm. He only survives due to the intervention of the sea god Neptune. As a gesture of gratitude, the King promises to sacrifice the first person he meets on arrival. In a bitter twist of fate, this happens to be his son Idamante. The King tries to evade fulfilling his promise, but Neptune is not fooled. In the end, although Neptune spares the life of Idamante, the King is forced to surrender his crown to his son and agree to the prince’s marriage with the Trojan Princess Ilia.
“Idomeneo” borrows elements of the French “tragédie lyrique” style, a form that also included dance. Mozart initially wanted to incorporate a dance scene at the end of all the opera’s acts, but he then opted for a large-scale dance section at the end of the work. But because “Idomeneo” is already very long, the ballet is usually dropped. This concert version from 2018 provides a musical impression. Anyone who knows the opera “Idomeneo” will recognize some of its themes in the ballet music.
© EuroArts Music International & arte
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Mozart was 24 when he wrote this music.
Thank you very much! 😘👏👏👏
Sehr schöner musikalischer klassischer Beitrag. Habe meine Seele "baumeln" lassen und mich entspannt. Sehr schön!!! 👍
Have listened to Idomeneo ample of times but I never actually picked up that there were balet sections in it. Thanks for sharing this clip and for pointing it out.
Mozart ..simply Amadeus Genius
I love this music 🎶
So Perfect 🥰
Lebhafte und wunderschöne Aufführung dieser selten aufgeführten doch perfekt komponierten Ballettmusik mit gut vereinigten und perfekt entsprechenden Tönen aller Instrumente. Der intelligente und geniale Dirigent leitet das kompakte und ausgezeichnete Orchester im veränderlichen Tempo und mit künstlerisch kontrollierter Dynamik. Wundervoll vom Anfang bis zum Ende!
じゅうし
Thanks for this. It was just remembering the 'ballet without music' from the film 'Amadaeus' that made me wonder…so I googled and this cam up. A pleasure to hear it.
I'm sure many have heard the true story of a music professor in Africa who was asked by an African bushman what record he was playing. The professor told him it's "Idomeneo", and the bushman, fascinated, stayed and listened to the whole opera.