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Mozart: Ballet Music from Idomeneo, K. 367
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on January
27, 1756 and died in Vienna, Austria on December 5, 1791. He composed
the opera Idomeneo, re di Creta, K. 366, between October 1780 and
January 1781. It premiered in Munich, Germany, on January 29, 1781. The
ballet music runs approximately 28 minutes in performance and is scored
for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets,
timpani, and orchestral strings.
In 1780, Karl Theodor,
Elector of the German province, Palatinate, commissioned an opera from
Mozart. He specified a dramatic piece, to be premiered in Munich during
the upcoming winter carnival season.
The story of Idomeneo
takes place in ancient times, after the Greek army has conquered the
city of Troy. Idomeneo, a Greek king, makes a promise to Neptune, the
Sea God, in order to survive a storm at sea during his voyage home. He
pledges to kill the first living creature he meets after setting foot
on land. This proves to be his son, Idamante. The situation is resolved
when Idomeneo quits the throne, permitting Idamante to rule in his
place.
Among the major stimuli to Mozart’s recent creative
development had been his hearing the majestic operas of Christoph
Willibald von Gluck in Paris. These works in turn look back to the
ornate French baroque style of Lully and Rameau. That model included
dancing as well as singing, sometimes in virtually equal measure.
Gluck’s operas occasionally included dance episodes, too, although
usually he simply tacked on a ballet as the conclusion of the opera.
It
opens with a chaconne. In Baroque times, this would have meant a set of
variations over an unchanging bass line. Mozart created instead a work
resembling a concert symphony or opera overture, made up of contrasting
movements performed as a continuous whole. It is followed by a gracious
passepied, a charming gavotte, and a serene passacaglia.
Programme Note by Don Anderson
© Copyright 2010 Toronto Symphony Orchestra