{"id":3876,"date":"2016-03-21T14:14:52","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T03:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emotemuse.com\/g\/?p=3876"},"modified":"2016-03-21T14:14:52","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T03:14:52","slug":"the-importance-of-good-texts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/?p=3876","title":{"rendered":"The importance of good texts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mozart described the importance of good operatic texts in a letter regarding The Abduction from the Seraglio<\/em> (Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail<\/em>) in a letter to his father in 1781:<\/p>\n

\n

…the Poesie is totally in tune with the character if this stupid, coarse, and malicious Osmin [the servant character] – and I am well aware that the kind of verse used here is not the best – but it agrees completely with the musical ideas that had been wandering around my head, even before I had seen the text, so I couldn’t help liking it; – and I’m willing to bet that when it is performed, nothing will be found inadequate. As far as the Poesie of the original play is concerned, I cannot say anything against it either. Belmont’s aria, “Oh, how anxious,” etc., could not have been written any better for the music. – Konstanze’s aria is not bad either, especially the first part, except for the bui<\/em> and “sorrow now rests in my breast,” – for you cannot say sorrow “rests.” – I don’t know, but it seems to me – that in an opera the Poesie must always be the obedient daughter of the Music. – Why are Italian comic operas so popular everywhere? – in spite of their wretched texts! … Because the music reigns supreme – which makes one forget everything else. – and an opera that is well designed must, therefore, please all the more; where words are written expressly for the Music and not merely to suit some miserable rhyme here and there; god knows, they contribute nothing, no matter what they offer, to the success of a theatrical performance, but they can certainly do a lot of harm; I’m talking abut creating words – or entire strophes – which ruin the composer’s entire concept. – Verses are probably the most indispensable element for music – but rhymes – created solely for the sake of rhyming – are the most detrimental. – those gentlemen who work in such a pedantic fashion will always go under, together with their music. – <\/p>\n

It is so much better if a good composer, who understands something about the stage and can make a suggestion here and there, is able to team up with an intelligent Poet and create a true Phoenix. – In such a case one need not worry about the applause even of the ignorant! – The Poets seem to me almost like trumpeters with their professional tricks! – if we composers always just follow our rules, which were quite useful in years past when one didn’t know any better, we would come up with a kind of music that is just as useless as their librettos.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– W. A. Mozart, in a letter to his father, October 13 1781.<\/p>\n

Cited in: Spaethling, Robert (2000) Mozart’s Letters; Mozart’s Life.<\/em> London: Faber and Faber, p.288-289.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mozart described the importance of good operatic texts in a letter regarding The Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail) in a letter to his father in 1781: …the Poesie is totally in tune with the character if this stupid, coarse, and malicious Osmin [the servant character] – and I am well aware […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[584],"tags":[572,592,597],"class_list":["post-3876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-composers-quotes","tag-mozart","tag-opera","tag-the-abduction-from-the-seraglio"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3877,"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions\/3877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedgebillmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}