Zaide oder Der Weg des Lichts (semi-scenic)

• Raphaël Pichon, Concept and Musical Direction
• Bertrand Couderc, Light
• Eddy Garaudel, Dramaturgy

• Sabine Devieilhe, Zaide
• Lea Desandre, Persada
• Julian Prégardien, Gomatz
• Daniel Behle, Soliman
• Johannes Martin Kränzle, Allazim

• Pygmalion Choir & Orchestra

“Can a person be happy without freedom?”

To you this was the lord of life,
Was not death terrible,
And in vain did he wave
His javelin against you:
Because in the sad field
Hope stood by your side
And hung with a diamond shield
Above your head.

An die Freude (Auszug),
Gedicht von Johann Peter Uz (1720—1796),
das Mozart als 12-Jähriger vertonte

The work on Zaide in 1780 marked a decisive turning point in Mozart's career. The unfinished Singspiel - a spontaneous composition for the Viennese court of the "enlightened despot" Joseph II - draws its radiance from its humanistic theme. For the first time, Mozart created a musical and dramatic resonance space for what he believed was good and right: for the fight against tyranny, for the power of true love and, above all, for the indispensable pursuit of freedom. Zaide uses a clichéd "rescue act" and the turquerias typical of the Rococo era as starting points, but transcends them through the psychological depth of the character portrayal and the extraordinary musical-dramatic intensity.

After Mozart left Salzburg for the first time in 1777, radical changes occurred in his life: He had a groundbreaking encounter with Haydn, who became his friend, and Mozart got to know Munich and the Mannheim Orchestra; Added to this were his unhappy love for Aloysia Weber, a disappointing stay in Paris and the tragic death of his mother. Mozart returned to his birthplace and, with a heavy heart, once again entered the service of Prince Archbishop Colloredo. But he had changed profoundly as a person. The great vocal works that he now composed are permeated by the spirit of the Enlightenment and by the philosophical and aesthetic currents that were then moving Europe. Zaide marked the beginning of this new aesthetic, which refused to make any concessions to gallant taste and instead explored the truth of the human soul. The fact that Mozart gradually freed himself from all forms of tutelage - he left Colloredo, Salzburg, his father - and subsequently produced dramatic and spiritual masterpieces such as Idomeneo (1780-1781), The Abduction from the Seraglio (1781-1782) and the Great Mass in C minor (1782-1783) is directly and unmistakably connected.

What causes us to change? What makes us better people? These questions preoccupied Europe in the Age of Enlightenment. Mozart, who was soon admitted to the Vienna Masonic lodge "Zur Wohltätigkeit", made these questions his own by creating a vision of humanity in his works that - without ever leaving all doubts behind - helps love and forgiveness to triumph.

In Libertà! In Mozart & l’Opéra (2019), Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon undertook an exploratory journey into the musical and dramaturgical experimental laboratory that ultimately produced the great masterpieces of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy. In the new production for the Salzburg Festival, they devote themselves to two rarely performed works, Zaide and the cantata Davide penitente (which is based on the C minor Mass), and combine them with other treasures from Mozart's oeuvre to create a humanistic fresco in which the individual and the community enter into dialogue and the battle between shadow and light is staged anew every moment.

(Source: salzburgerfestspiele.at)