Librettists of Wolfgang A. Mozart

Librettists of Mozart include Lorenzo Da Ponte and Emanuel Schikaneder

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, having composerd more than 20 operas in his short years of life, had several librettists. A librettist is a writer of a libretto, an Italian word meaning “little book.” In musical parlance, it is the text used for opera, operetta, oratorio, and other musical genres.

The term libretto is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as Mass, requiem, and sacred cantata. Libretto (pl. libretti), from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro (book).  The difference between the libretto and a synopsis:  the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot.

The relationship of the librettist (that is, the writer of a libretto) to the composer in the creation of a musical work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources and the writing techniques employed.  In the context of a modern English-language musical theater piece, the libretto is often referred to as the book of the work.

 

Among the librettists of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the most popular are Lorenzo da Ponte and Emanuel Schikaneder. This is no surprise considering that the texts of Mozart's four acclaimed operas were written by them. Schikaneder, a German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer, composer, and builder of the Theater an der Wien, wrote the libretto for Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), while Lorenzo da Ponte. a Venetian opera librettist and poet,  wrote the  librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Così fan tutte.  Aside from Lorenzo da Ponte and Emanuel Schikaneder, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart also availed of less known librettists who wrote the texts of his other operas.

Cigna-Santi, Vittorio Amadeo

• Mitridate, Rè di Ponto, K.87 – Opera in three acts, based on the tragedy play by French playwright and poet Jean Baptiste Racine’s Mithridate. Mitridate was commissioned for Carnival 1771. Mozart wrote the recitatives and overture while touring in Italy in 1770. (He was 14). Reaching Milan on October 18, he was forced to amend the arias. Those who pre-judged harshly the work because of Mozart's youth, were silenced by the first performance. First performance: Milan, Teatro Regio Ducal, December 26, 1770. Setting: Ninfea in the 63 BC. Opera in 3 acts. 
  

Coltellini, Marco

• La Finta Semplice, (The Pretended Simpleton), K.51 (46a) – Comic opera (buffa) in three acts, based on an early work by Carlo Goldoni. This opera was rehearsed in Vienna in 1768 but never performed. The performance in Salzburg the following year was produced with local singers including Michael Hydn's wife Maria Magdalena Lipp, who played Rosina. (Mozart and His Operas, edited by Stanley Sadie for the 'New Grove Composers Series', 2000.) First perormance: Salzburg, Palace of the Archbishop, May 1, 1769. Setting: A country estate, Cremona, Northern Italy in the 18th century. Opera buff in 3 acts.
  

Da Ponte, Lorenzo

• Così fan tutte – Comic opera (buffa ) in two acts by Mozart, composed in 1790. Italian. Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. It has an unusual title which literally means "in this way" or "like this", and sung by the three men in Act II, Scene xiii, just before the finale. 'fan' means "do", and 'tutte' means the Italian feminine version for "all". So the title can be translated as "In this way do all (women)" or "Like this do all (women)". Or it can even be "Women are all alike". It's a farce, a fun opera, nevertheless, the genius Mozart wrote some of his great music in it. Cosi fan tutte was commissioned to Mozart by Emperor Josef II subtitled The School for Lovers. First performance: Burgtheater, Vienna, January 26 (or 28), 1790, conducted by Mozart himself. Setting: Naples during the 18th century. Opera buffa (Comic) in two acts. Two hours and thirty minutes.
  


• Don Giovanni - Text was based by Lorenzo da Ponte after Giovanni Bertati’s libretto for Giuseppe Gazzaniga’s ‘The Stone Guest’, the contemporary version of the Don Juan legends. Composed by Mozart in 1787. It is a two-act opera, a unique blend of buffa (comic) and seria (drama). Libretto in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte after Giovanni Bertati's libretto for Giuseppe Gazzaniga's The Stone Guest, the contemporary version of the Don Juan legends. First performance: National Theatre, Prague, in October 29, 1787. Subtitled "drama giocoso," the opera blens comedy, melodrama, and supernatural elements. Setting: Seville, Spain, and neighborhood, in the early 17th century. Although Don Giovanni is often classified as comic, in reality it's a blend of comic (buffa) and drama (seria), a kind dof in between. Perhaps the success of this opera is the unique blending of both, aside from the fascinating character of Don Juan himself, who despite his scandalous ways still endeared him to women and perhaps became a challenge to the men in those days. Don Giovanni was commissioned for this opera in Prague where Marriage of Figaro was an instant success. Prague dearly loved Mozart and his music. This version of the Don Juan legend had been so viewed and considered by a number of known writers in the 17th and 18th centuries, and it was one of Mozart's works to enjoy high prestige throughout the 19th century, that it attracted much literary attention. Doubtless this was seen as a romantic work and, among other reasons, with its many fine arias shared by major characters, it has also become a vehicle for the great stars those times, as well, has continued this day.   
  


• Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) – Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. One of the most popular operas of Mozart, based on the French comedy by French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. First performance: Burgtheater, Vienna, in May 1, 1786, conducted by Mozart himself. Comic opera (opera buffa) in four acts. Two hours and thirty minutes. Setting: Count Almaviva's chateau of Aguas near Seville, 18th century. Le Nozze di Figaro / The Marriage of Figaro is a comedy, embodying social satire that proved revolutionary at the time. It is a sequel to The Barber of Seville (Il barieri di Siviglia), written by Gioachino Rossini, although Mozart and Rossini had nothing to do with each other. The playwright Beaumarchais wrote both stories as plays. Mozart picked up The Marriage of Figaro while Rossini, The Barber of Seville. Da Ponte has kept most of the complicated parts of Beaumarchais' satirical comedy. Mozart on his part, despite working within the format limitations of the old opera comedy, brilliantly managed to reflect the mood of the characters and the intrigue in music as enchanting as ever. 
  

De Calzabigi, Ranieri

• La finta giardiniera (The Pretended Gardener or The Phony Gardener), K.196 – Opera buffa (Comic) in three acts. The first version in Italian was written by Giuseppe Petrosellini, and the second, in German Singspiel by Johann Franz Joseph Stierle. Basis is libretto by Ranieri de Calzabigi.

Di Gamerra, Giovanni

• Lucio Silla, K.135 – Italian Opera (seria) in three acts. It is often regarded as one of the finest comic opera that Mozart wrote in Italy. This opera is co-written by Di Gamerra with Pietro Metastasio. 

 

Mazzola, Caterino Tommaso

La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K621.  The libretto by Mazzola is after a drama by Pietro Metastasio. First performance: September 6, 1791, Prague National Theater, 3 months before Mozart's death. Setting: Ancient Rome in the First century AD. Opera Seria/Drama. In two acts (135 minutes).

 

Metastasio, Pietro

• La Betulia Liberata, K118 – Opera based on Somnium Scipionis by Cicero.


• Il Sogno di Scipione, (Scipio’s Dream), K.126 – Italian. Based on Somnium Scipionis by Cicero. Opera in one-act adapted by Gianbattista Varesco, Salzburg court chaplain, text by Pietro Metastasio. First performance: Salzburg, Palace of the Archbishop, April or May, 1772. Seting: North Africa circa 200 BC. Azione teatrale. One act opera (110 minutes)
  


• Il Rè Pastore (The Shepherd King), K.208 – Opera seria in two acts – libretto by Pietro Metastasio, adapted by Gianbattista Varesco, Salzburg court chaplain. Composed 1775. Mozart was 19 years old. Occasion was the visit from the archduke Maximilian Franz, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa. First performance: Salzburg, Palace of the Archbishop, April 23, 1775. Setting: Sidon, 330 B.C. Opera Seria / Drama opera. Two acts. (107 minutes)
  


• La Clemenza di Tito, (The Clemency of Titus), K.621- opera seria written in two acts. (See Mazzola, Caterino Tommaso)
  

• Lucio Silla. Co-written with Giovanni di Gamerra.  The fiction plot briefly, in Rome General Lucio Silla (Lucius Sulla) seized total control but unexpectedly he laid it down the year before his death. Some of the charactersars historical. Although the plot of Lucio Silla is pompous and its denouement unconvincing, this opera is considered to be musically the finest work Mozart wrote in Italy, and ranks with opera Seria by the greatest masters of the time. (Mozart and His Operas, The Grove composers Series, edited by Stanley Sadie, 2000.) First performance: Milan, Teatro Regio Ducal, December 26, 1772. Setting: Rome and environs in the 1st century BC. Opera Seria (Comic Opera) in 3 acts.
  

Parini, Giuseppe

• Ascanio in Alba, K.111 – Italian pastoral opera in two acts. It is based on the play by Count Claudio Nicolo Stampa. Mozart was 15 years old  when it was first performed. Composed 1771. First performance: Milan, Teatro Regio Ducal, Milan, OCtober 17, 1771. Setting: Alba in mythical times. Festa teatrale. Pastoral opera in two acts. (160 minutes)
  

 

Petrosellini, Giuseppe

• La finta giardiniera - the first mature comic opera (opera buffa) of Mozart. He was 18 years old when he composed it, an astounding achievement for that age at that time. Petrosellini wrote the first version in Italian. (see Stierle for added info.) 
  

 

Schachtner, Johann Andreas

• Zaide, K.344 – Opera in two acts. It is an unfinished German opera, after Franz Joseph Sebastiani’s Das Serail, written in 1780. First performance: c. 1780. Setting: Turkish.
  

Schikaneder, Emanuel

• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, K. 620) – Opera in two acts composed by Mozart in 1791, the year of his death. Text is in German by Emanuel Schikaneder, who was also an actor-manager. The work is a Singspiel, with both singing and spoken dialogue. This opera remains one of the four extremely popular operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the other three being Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte.First performance: Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, September 30, 1791. Setting: Egypt. In and near the temple of Isis at Memphis , at the time of Rameses I. Opera is in two acts, a lyric drama with mystic overtones. Die Zauberflöte was initially planned by Schikaneder as a popular fairy-tale with spoken and comic dialogue. The Queen of the Night was to be the heroine and Sarastro the villain. The roles of the Queen and Sarastro were reversed, Sarastro becoming the good one. Masonic symbolisms were introduced in this opera. It should be noted that at that point in time Mozart has converted to Masonry as well as Schikaneder, both of them belonging to the same lodge. Freemasonry returned to disfavour after the death of the liberal-minded Josef II in 1790. In a way, the piece was venue for protest and an operatic allegory for the need to purify one's self before entering earthly trials. Die Zauberflöte also inspired and impressed prominent non-musicians like Goethe, among others. Once again, the music shows Mozart's immense brilliance in its clarity and lyricism. 
  

Stephanie the Younger, Johann Gottlieb

• Der Schauspieldirektor, (The Impresario), K.486 – Opera in one act. It’s in the form of comedy/Singspiel. German libretto. Composed f-musicians like Goethe, among others. Oncor Emperor Joseph II. First performance: Vienna, Schoenbrunn Palace, February 7, 1786. Setting: Salzburg for Vienna in the late 18th century. One act opera: Comedy/singspiel (60 minutes)
  


• The Abduction from the Seraglio, (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), K.384 – German opera Singspiel in three acts. It was adapted from an original libretto by Friedrich Breitzner’s “Belmonte and Constanze” (1782,Vienna), the year Mozart married Constanze Weber. First performance: Burgtheater, Vienna, July 16, 1772. Setting: Turkey, 16th century, but often played in 18th-century dress. Opera Singspiel in three acts (130 minutes)
  

 

Stierle, Johann Franz Joseph

• La finta giardiniera - the first mature comic opera (opera buffa) of Mozart. He was 18 years old when he composed it, an astounding achievement for that age at that time. Petrosellini wrote the first version in Italian. Stierle wrote the second version  in German Singspiel. Based on libretto by Ranieri de Calzabigi. First performance: Munich, Slvatortheater, January 13, 1775. Setting: The mayor's estate, town of Lagonero in Italy in the mid-18th century. Opera buffa (comic opera) in 3 acts.

Varesco (Giambattista, Gianbattista, Gerolamo Giovanni Battista)

• Idomeneo, Rè di Creta, K.366 – Italian opera drama (seria), based on Antoine Danchet’s libretto for “Idoménée” by André Campra. First performance: Munich, Cuvillies Theater, January 29, 1781. Revised version by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (premiered in Munich, June 15, 1931). Settin: Port of Sidon, island of Crete, shortly ater the Trojan War (12th century BC). Opera Seria / Drama opera.
  


• L’Oca del Cairo, K.422

 

Weiser, Ignaz Anton von

• Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, K.35 (The Obligation of the First and Foremost Commandment). Part 1 was composed by Mozart, Part 2 by Michael Haydn, and Part 3 by Anton Cajetan Adlgasser. It was composed in 1767. Mozart was 11 years old. The librettist is sometimes identified as Johann Adam Wieland or Jakob Anton Marianus Wimmer. First performance: Knight's Hall of the Palace of the ARAchbishop, Salzburg, March 12, 1767. Setting: A garden, time not specified. An oratorio, a sacred drama.  
  

Weiskern, Friedrich Wilhelm

• Bastien und Bastienne, (Bastien and Bastienne), K.50 – Comic opera (buffa) and one-act Singspiel. Libretto is in German. Friedrich Wilhelm Weiskern based his text on Marie Justine Benoite Favert’s parody of ‘Le Devin du Village’ by philosopher and novelist Jean Jacques Rousseau.First performance: Vienna, Private residence, September 1768. Setting: French village, a pastoral tale of the 18th century. One act opera (40 minutes). 

 

Widl, Rufinus

• Apollo et Hyacinthus, K.38.  Composed by Mozart in 1767. Based by Widl in Greek mythology as told by Roman poet Ovid in his work Metamorphoses. First performance: Salzburg University, May 13, 1767. A three-act comedy in Latin. It's not strictly an opera but a set of nine musical intermezzi to Widl's Clementia Croesi.
  

 

 

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote more than 20 operas. He is famous for Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte.

For an insight to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s significance in the opera development, readers may want to check out Mozart in the History of the Opera before he left for Vienna and during his Vienna years, 1781 to 1791.

Resources:

Compositions of Mozart: works by date, works by category

Mozart and His Operas; Edited by Stanley Sadie, 2000 and Synopses of Wolfgang Amadeus

Mozart’s operas linked in this article were all written by Tel Asiado, from 2007

The Mozart Project of Steve Boerner, featuring Mozart’s Operas, Musical Plays and Dramatic Cantatas

Image:

Mozart Figaro Libretto 1786. Wiki (Public Domain). Accessed June 1, 2013.



Note:   I originally published this piece at thefreeresource.com (with amendments here), the date escapes me. / Tel


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