Opera Zaide (K.344) was a two-act opera that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote but never finished. The libretto was written by Johann Andreas Schachtner, after Franz Joseph Sebastiani's Das Serail, 1780. It was first performed about 1780. The setting is Turkish.
Zaide's Background
Zaide has its roots in Emperor Joseph II's desire to set up a German opera company in Vienna, Italian being the opera language that time. Early in 1778, Mozart was on his way home from his Munich and Paris tours, in search of a chapel-master position. Responding to the emperor's plan, Mozart's father Leopold urged Wolfgang to compose a German opera believing that if he can do this, he might be appointed to the post of music director of the company.
Arriving in Salzburg in mid-January 1779, Mozart started work on Zaide, working with the Salzburg court musician Johann Schachtner as librettist. Schachtner wrote the script of the play as a German Singspiel, a play with music.
Intervention came when a major commission came from Munich for Mozart to perform Idomeneo. Mozart abandoned Zaide, completing 15 numbers, about three-quarters of the music. Writing to his father shortly before his dismissal from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Mozart made clear his regret to his father that Zaide was abandoned in favor of a comic opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, as Vienna people would rather watch comedies.
Mozart's music for Zaide and her beloved Gomatz is filled with romance, evocative of a nocturnal perfumed Eastern garden. Popular is the beguiling music in Act I aria "Ruhe sanft." The score is remarkable as Mozart's only dramatic use of melodrama - spoken word superimposed over orchestral music. Unfortunately, the music of Zaide is missing an overture and a short final act. None of the spoken text survives.
The main Characters in the opera Zaide
- Zaide, (soprano)
- Gomatz, a slave(tenor)
- Allazim, (bass)
- Sultan Soliman, (tenor)
- Osmin, Gaoler (bass)
- Zaram, Captain of the Guard (speaking role)
- Four Slaves (tenor)
Plot Summary of Mozart's opera Zaide
The Sultan is enamored of Zaide. Gomatz is one of the sultan's slaves. Worn by overwork, he collapses and falls asleep. Zaide sees him in the garden, and falls in love. Not wanting to disturb his sleep, she lays her picture beside him. The two eventually meet and love blossoms. Allazim, his friend, procures an oriental garb as a disguise for the couple. They manage to escape unnoticed.
Upon discovery, the Sultan is enraged. Zaram, the Sultan's chief guard, calms him down and assures him that the lovers will be returned to him. Eventually captured, the couple is brought back to face the Sultan. Zaide chooses a life with Gomatz than with the Sultan. The Sultan is determined to put them to death.
Alternative Endings of Zaide
- Zaide and Gomatz, who had fallen in love with each other, discover that they are brother and sister, and Allazim, who helped them escape, is their father.
- Allazim softens the Sultan's heart and encourages the Sultan to consider Gomatz not as a slave but a free man. He also remains the Sultan's adviser while the lovers depart in peace.
The work clearly anticipates the setting of Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The gaps in the libretto are filled by adapted dialogue.
Mozart's Operas
- Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
- Cosi fan tutte
- Don Giovanni
- Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
- Ascanio in Alba
- Bastien und Bastienne
- Der Schauspieldirektor
- Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio)
- Idomeneo
- Il re pastore
- Il Sogno Scipione
- La Clemenza di Tito
- La Finta Giardiniera
- La Finta Semplice
- Lucio Silla
- Mitridate, re di Ponto
- Zaide
Sources:
An Illustrated Guide to Composers of Opera by Peter Gammond, Salamander Book (1980)
Zaide - The Classical Opera Company
Zaide by Mozart by T. de Wyzewa abd G. de Saint-Foix
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