Zaïde or the Path of Light

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• Adagio en do majeur, K. 356
• « Ah, lo previdi » – « Ah, t’invola », K. 272
• Extraits de Davide penitente, K. 469
• Extraits de Zaïde, K. 344 :
  • Chœur « Brüder, lasst uns lustig sein »
  • Air « Der stolze Löw’ »
  • « Ruhe sanft »
  • Duo « Meine Seele hüpft vor Freuden »
  • Air « Ihr Mächtigen seht ungerührt »
  • Trio « O, selige Wonne »
  • Air « Tiger! Wetze nur die Klauen »
  • Quatuor « Freundin, stille deine Tränen »
  • Air « Trostlos schluchzet Philomele »
• Einsam bin ich, meine Liebe, K. Anh. 26
• « Misero ! O sogno – Aura, che intorno spiri », K. 431
• Extraits de Davide penitente, K. 469
• Adagio en do majeur, K. 356

Sheet music
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. David Penitente KV 469. Carus 51.469
Carus Verlag, Stuttgart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Zaide KV 344 (336b) (1779/80) 
Published by Werner Oehlmann (Neue Mozart Ausgabe)
Neue Mozart-Ausgabe © Bärenreiter-Verlag Kassel · Basel · London · New York · Praha 

The preparation of Zaide in 1780 marked a decisive turning point in Mozart's career. This Singspiel, spontaneously composed for the Viennese court of the "enlightened despot" Joseph II then left unfinished, shines through the humanist themes it explores. For the first time, Mozart built a true musical and dramaturgical resonance chamber for what he considered just and good: the struggle against tyranny, the power of true love and, above all, the inalienable quest for freedom. Although Zaide initially draws on the clichés of the "rescue" narrative and on the rococo Turkish fashions of the time, the work transcends them through the psychological depth with which Mozart portrays his characters and through the rare musical intensity of the drama.

After Mozart's first departure from Salzburg in 1777, profound upheavals had marked his life: his decisive encounter with his new friend Haydn, his discoveries in Munich and of the Mannheim orchestra, his disappointed love for Aloysia Weber, his Parisian disillusionment and the tragic death of his mother. Mozart returned to Salzburg and to the service of Prince-Archbishop Colloredo with a heavy heart. Yet he also returned to his hometown profoundly transformed. The great vocal works he composed from then on carried the spirit of the Enlightenment as well as the philosophical and aesthetic movements stirring Europe. Zaide was the starting point of this new aesthetic, which refused concessions to the gallant taste and instead explored the truth of the human soul. How could one not see a direct link between Mozart's gradual emancipation from his guardianships (leaving Colloredo, leaving Salzburg, leaving his father) and his flourishing in the dramatic and sacred masterpieces to come: Idomeneo (1780–1781), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1781–1782), the Great Mass in C minor (1782–1783), and many more.

What transforms us? What makes us better? These were the questions debated in Europe in the age of the Enlightenment. Mozart, who was soon to be admitted to the Viennese Masonic lodge "Zur Wohltätigkeit", made them his own by offering a vision of humanity that, while never ceasing to be traversed by doubt, allows love and forgiveness to triumph.

In Libertà! Mozart & Opera (2019), Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon explored the musical and dramaturgical laboratory that preceded the three great masterpieces of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy. With this new creation for the Salzburg Festival, which delves into the rarely performed Zaide and Davide penitente (based on the Great Mass in C minor), as well as into other Mozart gems, they compose a humanist tableau in which the individual and the collective respond to each other; where the struggle between light and shadow is played out at every moment.

Eddy Garaudel
playwright of the show