Die Entführung aus dem Serail and the didactic aesthetics of the National Singspiel In the concluding vaudeville of Die Entfährung aus dem Serail, Mozart sets into motion an unprecedented disruption of contemporary operatic conventions. At the beginning of the finale, the Europeans take turns expressing gratitude to Pasha Selim, finishing their announcements with a recurring phrase that draws a generalized principle from Selim's act of mercy towards his (former) captives. The phrase is treated as a typical vaudeville refrain in that all characters repeat it in unison after each individual statement (see also Table 2.1):1 Wer so viel Huld vergessen kann, Den seh' man mit Verachtung an. Anyone who could forget such great a favor Should be regarded with contempt. The unanimity of sentiment is unexpectedly undermined by Blonde, who sings the refrain melody to a radically different couplet: Denn seh' er nur das Tier dort an, Ob man so was ertragen kann. Then take a look at that beast there And tell me whether anyone could put up with it. Although it is justified by Osmin's rough behavior toward her earlier in the opera, Blonde's statement clashes with the previous calls for forgiveness, and introduces a touch of irony into the vaudeville.2 Provoked by Blonde, Osmin debases the seemingly lofty idealism even further: he interrupts Blonde and expresses his anger to a distorted, agitated version of the refrain tune, from which a new idea emerges: the repetition of the coda from Osmin's first-act "rage" aria, including the appearance of the "Turkish" piccolo and percussion in the orchestra. It obliterates the humane plea for forgiveness in a passionate desire for violence ("first beheaded, then hanged, then impaled on red hot spikes, then burned, then bound and drowned, finally flayed.").3 Osmin's outbreak strengthens the ironic undertone insinuated by Blonde's hateful statement, and the irony of the situation further paralyzes the moral message of the opening. Die Entführung aus dem Serail 49 After the subversion and annihilation of the vaudeville refrain, another didactic announcement follows:4 Nichts ist so hässlich als die Rache; Hingegen menschlich gütig sein Und ohne Eigennutz verzeihn, Ist nur der grossen Seelen Sache! Nothing is so ugly as revenge, Whereas to be humane and kind And selflessly to forgive Is the mark of a noble soul! The statement no longer merely celebrates the Pasha's clemency but refers to more universally applicable modes of behavior: the ability to tame vengeful desires, to forgive one's enemies, and to overcome one's violent passions. Mozart's music clearly endorses this message (the following discussion will be more meaningful if the reader has access to a score). A fermata follows Osmin's departure (mm. 94-95), and then the music starts again in a new style. The slower tempo {Andante sostenuto, which contrasts both with Osmin's Allegro assai and the preceding vaudeville's Andante) and the sotto voce of the maxim section contrast with Osmin's violent and loud paroxysms (set in Allegro assai) and also with the forte presentation of the vaudeville. Moreover, the characters now sing a hymn-like melody in four-part harmony that detaches the maxim even further from both the folk-song-like features of the vaudeville and the exotic topos of Osmin's solo (see Table 2.1). Table 2.1 Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, third-act finale Formal divisions German text English translation STROPHE I Refrain Communal Ref. STROPHE II BELMONTE Nie werd' ich deine Huld verkennen, Mein Dank bleibt ewig dir geweiht! An jedem Ort, zu jeder Zeit Werd' ich dich groß und edel nennen. Wer so viel Huld vergessen kann, Den seh' man mit Verachtung an. ALLE Wer so viel Huld usw. KONSTANZE Nie werd' ich, im Genuss der Liebe, Vergessen, was der Dank gebeut, Mein Herz, der Liebe nun geweiht, Hegt auch dem Dank geweihte Triebe. Never shall I fail to appreciate your mercy; 1 shall always owe you gratitude; At all times and places I'll call you great and noble. Anyone who could forget such a favor Should be regarded with contempt! Anyone who could forget etc. Even in the delights of love, I shall never Forget the gratitude I owe; My heart, now dedicated to love, Will also cherish grateful thanks. (Continued) Forma! divisions German text Refrain Communal Ref. STROPHE III Refrain Communal Ref. STROPHE IV Refrain Debased STROPHE V— OSMIN Distorted Verbrennen sollte man die Hunde, Die uns so schändlich hintergehn; Es ist nicht länger anzusehn, Mir starrt die Zunge fast im Munde, Um ihren Lohn zu ordnen an: Angry Interlude Erst geköpft, Dann gehangen, Dann gespießt Auf heiße Stangen, Dann verbrannt, Dann gebunden Und getaucht, Zuletzt geschunden. (läuft voll Wvth ab.) English translation Wer so viel Huld vergessen usw. ALLE Wer so viel Huld usw. PEDRILLO Wenn ich es je vergessen könnte, Wie nah' ich am Erdrosseln war, Und all der anderen Gefahr: Ich lief, als ob der Kopf mir brennte. Wer so viel Huld usw. ALLE Wer so viel Huld usw. BLONDE Herr Bassa, ich sag' recht mit Freuden, Viel Dank für Kost und Lagerstroh. Doch bin ich recht von Herzen froh, Daß er mich läßt von dannen scheiden. (auf Osmin zeigend.) Denn seh' er nur das Tier dort an, Ob man so was ertragen kann. Anyone who could forget etc. Anyone who could forget etc. If 1 could ever forget How near 1 was to being throttled, And all the other dangers, I'd run away as if my brain were on fire. Anyone who could forget etc. Anyone who could forget etc. Lord Pasha, with joy I really say, Many thanks for the board and lodging, But I'm truly relieved to hear You're letting me leave. (pointing to Osmin.) Just take a look at that beast there, Whether anyone could put up with him. We should burn these dogs, Who have so disgracefully deceived us. It's no longer to be borne. My tongue goes almost rigid in my mouth To order their reward: First beheaded. Then hanged, Then impaled On red hot spikes, Then burned, Then bound And drowned, Finally flayed. (runs away full of anger.) Die Entführung aus dem Serail 51 Formal divisions German iext English translation STROPHE VI ALLE sublimated Nichts ist so hässlich, als die Nothing is as hateful, as revenge.; Rache; Hingegen menschlich, gütig Whereas to be humane and kind; sein; Und ohne Eigennutz verzeihn, And to forgive selflessly, Ist nur der grossen Seelen Sache. Is the mark of noble souls. Refrain— KONSTANZE transformed Wer dieses nicht erkennen Anyone who could forget this kann, Den seh' man mit Should be regarded with Verachtung an! contempt! Communal ALLE Ref.— Wer dieses nicht erkennen Anyone who could forget etc. transformed usw. Note: Boldface in the German text is mine. Mozart's disruption of musical procedures that many late eighteenth-century French and German composers used in their operas not only has a powerful rhetorical effect, but it also debunks the conventions of didactic vaudeville finales as mundane and hollow. Mozart could have easily followed Osmin's angry outburst with a return to the same tune that accompanied the previous strophes. Stephanie's libretto in fact invites such a procedure, since the stanza's length, rhyme pattern, and rhythmic structure are the same as those in the first part of the finale.5 In the original printed version of the libretto—issued in July 1782—the stanza has exactly the same visual appearance as the others. And yet, Mozart distinguishes the communal didactic statement from the rest of the finale through striking musical gestures. The sermonizing communal voice that speaks through the onstage singers during the maxim displays a higher level of rhetorical proficiency than the onstage characters did. Whereas the original vaudeville featured strophic repetition of song-like themes, the sermon music skillfully illustrates the meaning of the maxim through expressive madrigalisms that reflect the opposing concepts of vengeance and mercy introduced in the maxim; the three lines through which the maxim refers to mercy (set in mm. 101-109) acquire mellifluous melodies, whereas the opening line about vengeance (set in mm. 95-101) proceeds through half-steps, sforzandi, a diminished seventh chord on the second statement of the word "hässlich" ("hideous"), and an accented leap of a minor sixth on the third iteration of the same word. Mozart also features the line about vengeance three times, and differentiates each statement from the other two through changing harmonic resolutions (to the tonic, submedi-ant, dominant). Mozart's musical preacher, like a good rhetorician, repeats the first part of the maxim as if to ensure that the audience commits it to memory, yet, at the same time, the preacher varies the repetitions, thereby holding the listeners' interest. Mozart's intense musical moralizing and particularly the act of distancing his finale from conventional procedures goes well beyond the moralistic revisions I 52 Die Entführung aus dem Serail affecting the 1780 adaptation of Gluck's La Rencontre imprevue (as Die unver-muthete Zusammenkunft) for the National Singspiel, discussed in the previous chapter. A crucial difference between the two operas' approach to their models is that whereas Die unvermuthete Zusammenkunft retained Gluck's original music, Die Entführung was set to music anew by a composer commissioned by the National Singspiel. As this chapter shows, the opportunity to write new music to the didactically intense librettos and adaptations by Viennese authors and revisers prompted some of the National Singspiel composers to emphasize the idea of moral instruction through innovative musical means. Mozart's explicitly didactic preoccupations in Die Entfuhrung (both in the third-act vaudeville, but also in the second-act finale) were to a large extent incited by the debates and new approaches to reformed German theater developed by Viennese intellectuals, bureaucrats, composers, librettists, and adapters associated with the National Theater. The intense didacticism served both as a means of distinguishing the Viennese works from their foreign models and as a link to the aesthetics of national theater propounded by German aestheticians throughout the late eighteenth century. Viennese vaudeville didacticism Mozart's departure from typical vaudevillian didacticism expands upon the attempts of the librettist Stephanie to increase the didactic import of the opera's ending in his revisions of Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's north German libretto Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail for the Viennese National Theater. In Bretzner's original, Selim turns out to be Belmonte's long-lost father, and his decision to pardon the Europeans thus coincides with his emotional investment in his own son. The north German work, moreover, concludes with a simple, sentimental chorus:6 Oft wölkt stürmisch sich der Himmel; Nacht und grausendes Getümmel Zeigt sich schrecklich unserm Blick: Doch ein Strahl der milden Sonne Kehrt den Jammer schnell in Wonne, Bringt die Freuden bald zurück. Often the sky is threatening and stormy; Night and furious tumult Appear menacingly to our sight: Still a ray of the beautiful sun Tunis grief into bliss, And brings back happiness. All that Bretzner offers is a summary of the previous plot and an expression of joyous sentiments in response to the happy turn of events. Stephanie, by contrast, introduces the more explicitly "educational" finale with a story according to « hich Sclim had to leave his native Spain due to some evildoings of Belmonte's father. When he pardons the son of his archenemy, Stephanie's Selim displays a great strength of character that remains unarticulated in Bretzner's tale—the ability to control his vengeful feelings. This injects a prominent didactic component into the ending of the opera; as Jessica Waldoff put it, "the recognition of persons takes a place of secondary importance to the discovery of the Enlightenment tenets and principles."7 Stephanie's transformation of a sentimental into an educational outpouring might also reflect warnings by some contemporary Viennese critics againsi excessive emotionality in theater, which they perceived as effeminizing.8 Die Entführung aus dem Serail 53 Stephanie's intensely moralistic ending of Die Entführung, together with Mozart's unconventional and emphatic musical setting, parallels procedures that authors of court-sponsored Viennese operas employed since at least the mid-eighteenth century. The revision of the vaudeville from the 1726 Les Pelerins de la Mecque into the concluding number of Gluck's 1764 La Rencontre imprevue illustrates how radically Viennese adapters could transform the final message of an opera. The 1726 vaudeville contains five stanzas that present ribald accounts of various characters' pilgrimages, mostly to the goddess of love (Cythere). These accounts do not relate to the plot of the opera except through the theme of pilgrimage and conclude with satirical or sexual jokes:9 Vaudeville Air 98. (De M. ľ Abbé.) Premier Couplet Un mari sexagenaire, Et sa Femme de vingt ans, Vont tous les deux á Cythere, Pour demander des Enfans: Mais Us n'ont dans ce voyage Point d'Ami, point de Voisin, Digue, digue, diguedin, Diguedin, din, din, din, din: Le mauvais Pélerinage! II. Pour une pareille affaire, Un vieux Gouteux de Paris ■ Confia sa Ménagere A deux de ses bons Amis. II ne fut pas du voyage; Elle en alia meilleur train, Digue, digue, diguedin, &c. Le joyeux Pélerinage! III. On voit sans cesse aux Guinguettes Des Pélerins tant & plus, Avec d'aimables fillettes, Sacrifier á Bacchus: L'Amour recoit leur hommages, Ainsi que le Dieu du vin, Digue, digue, diguedin, &c. Ah! Les bons Pélerinages! Vaudeville Air 98. (From M. l'Abbe.) First Couplet A husband of sixty something, And his twenty-year-old wife, Go to see Cythere, To ask her for children: But on the road They find no friend or neighbor, Digue, digue, diguedin, Diguedin, din, din, din, din: What an awful pilgrimage! n. For the same reason, An old taster from Paris Entrusted his housewife To two of his good friends. It was not the voyage; It went better now, Digue, digue, diguedin, etc. What a happy pilgrimage! III. We often see in Guiguettes [popular taverns] Pilgrims over and over again, With some pretty girls, As they sacrifice to Bacchus: The god of love receives their tributes, As well as the god of wine, Digue, digue, diguedin, etc. Ah! What great pilgrimages! 54 Die Entführung aus dem Serail IV. Pour Cythere jeune fille Se mit un jour en chemin; Mais, passant par la Courtille, Elle y rencontre un Blondin: Elle finit le voyage Chez un gros Marchand de vin, digue, digue, diguedin, &c. Ah! Le doux Pelerinage! V. Un bourgeois d'humeur gaillarde A Cythere un jour alia, Avec certain Egrillarde, Qui favoit ce chemin-lä; La Matoise, en ce voyage, Redrcssa le Pelerin, Digue, digue, diguedin, &c. Le coüteux Pelerinage! VI. Quand le Public prend ia peine De nous venir voir ici, S'il sort avec la migraine, Ma foi, nous Pavons aussi: S'il est content du voyage, Pour notre Opera badin, Digue, digue, diguedin, &c. Quel hcureux Pelerinage! IV. For Cythere a young girl One day took the road; But, as she was passing the Courtille [tavem], She met a blond boy: She finished her journey At a large wine merchant's Digue, digue, diguedin, etc. Ah! What a sweet pilgrimage! V. A bourgeois of a chirpy mood Went to Cythere one day, With a certain ribald woman. Who was making the same journey; The sly one, during the journey, She robbed the pilgrim, Digue, digue, diguedin, etc. What an expensive pilgrimage! VI. Since the audience took the pain, To come and see us tonight, If you leave with a migraine, Well, we will have one as well: If you are content with the voyage, With our playful opera, Digue, digue, diguedin, etc. What a happy pilgrimage!. The 1764 Viennese opera replaced the original vaudeville with a choral finale. The finale opens with a communal expression of relief at the happy turn of events. In the middle section, the Sultan exhorts the noble lovers to become a model for others, and Rezia and Ali wish happiness to the Sultan and hope that he, too, will become the model for other rulers. This ending therefore directly exhorts the audience to follow the exemplary actions presented in the plot, and explicitly addresses both the monarchs and their subjects. The adapters, librettists, and composers of the National Singspiel company distanced their products from pre-existing French operas in similar ways (for a list of new operas written or adapted for the National Singspiel from preexisting French, Italian, and north German works, see Tables 2.2a-c). In his adaptation of the 1776 Parisian opera Les Souliers mors-dores into the 1779 Vienna Die schöne Schusterin {introduced in Chapter 1), for example, Stephanie omitted several risque passages from the original French vaudeville finale and Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail 55 replaced them with stanzas that contemplate the moral implications of earlier actions. Particularly conspicuous is the revision of the vaudeville's third stanza, in which the 1776 Parisian Baron de Piecourt narrates a ribald story of marital infidelity 10 Damis, que l'inconstance měne, Vivoit chez la femme d'autrui; Un soir il revient chez la sienne, Croyant que ľ on songeoit ä lui: II s'endort, ce mari crédule; Mais s'éveiUant au crepuscule, II voit qu'on a change sa mule, II n'étoit rien moins qu'oublié ... Damis, led by [his own] inconstancy, Slept with someone else's wife; One night he comes back to his own [wife], Thinking that she dreamt only of him: He falls asleep, this credulous husband; But waking up at dusk, He sees that she has changed her mule, He was nothing less than forgotten ... The stanza obliquely refers to earlier experiences of the cobbler Sock and his wife Odile, the opera's main middle-class protagonists; in Act I, scene 7, the cobbler discusses his adulterous encounters with the actresses of the local theater company, not knowing that his wife, who herself was flirting with the Baron before Sock's arrival, is hiding in the same room behind a curtain. The Viennese finale transforms the Baron's stanza into a statement in defense of military honor:11 Baron, (zu Lehne und Sock) Kinder! Merkt euch diese Lehren, Ohngestraft' entkommt der nicht Der von uns verächtlich spricht. Alle. Soldaten wißen sich schleunig zu rächen, Bleiben bcy keinem Schimfe still; Drum muß man mit Achtung von ihnen sprechen, Wenn man vor ihnen Ruhe will. The Baron, (to Lehne and Sock) Children! Take note of these teachings, No one escapes unpunished Who speaks about us with contempt. All. The soldiers take revenge quickly, They do not stand any mocker}'; Therefore speak about them with reverence, If you wish to be left in peace. Not only does Stephanie's adaptation of the vaudeville avoid the risque narrative about adultery, but it also contributes to a reconfiguration of the relationship between the Baron and Lehne (as the Viennese Odile is called). In the French libretto, Piécourt sets the plot into motion when he invite.s Odile into his apartment pretending to be Sock's customer. When Odile casually complains that her husband does not allow her to wear stylish shoes, the Baron decides to make fun of her and her husband. He secretly sends for Sock, and when the cobbler arrives, the terrified Odile hides behind a curtain. The Baron pretends that she is a mistress of his and asks Sock to make a pair of shoes for her. Odile has to show her feet to the men below the curtain, and Sock measures them by sight. Throughout the French libretto, there are hints that the Baron devises the plan for Sock to measure his "mistress" because he himself wants to see Odile's naked feet—he Table 2.2a New adaptations of French operas produced company, 1778-83 by the National Singspiel Year of production Original title (Vienna title) Librettist/composer Vienna adapter 1778 Rose at Colas {Röschen und Colas) L 'Ami de la maison {Der Hausfreund) La Fausse magie {Die abgeredte Zauberey) Silvairl {Silvain) Sedaine/Monsigny Johann Böhm Marmontel/Gretry Böhm Marmontel Gretry Stephanie the Younger Marmontel Gretry Stephanie 1779 Julie {Julie) Zemire et Azor (Zemire und Azor) Le Deserteur {Der Deserteur) Monvel 'Dezede Franz von Heufeld Marmontel/Gretry Stephanie {'!) SedainTMonsigny Stephanie 1780 L 'Amant jaloux {Der eifersüchtige Liebhaber) d'Hele. Gretry Stephanie 1781 Les Ěvénemems imprévtis {Die unvermutheten Zufälle) Iphigenie en Tauride (Iphigenia in Tauris) d'Hele/Gretry Stephanie Guillard/Du Roullet/Gluck Johann Baptist von Alxinger Table 2.2b New adaptations of Italian operas produced by the National Singspiel company, 1778-83 Year of production Original title (Vienna title) Librettist/composer Vienna adapter 1779 IIfinto pazzo per amore {Der verstellte Narr aus Liebe) L 'amore artigiano {Die Liebe unter den Handwerkslcuten) Mariani/Sacchini Stephanie Goldoni/Gassmann Stephanie 1780 L incognita perseguitata (Die verfolgte Unbekannte) Petrosellini/Anfossi Stephanie 1781 1 filosofi immaginari {Die eingebildeten Philosophen) La schiava rkonosciuta {Die Sklavin und der großmutige Seefahrer) Bertati/Paisiello Stephanie Zanetti/Piccini Stephanie 1783 La notte critica {Die unruhige Nacht) Goldoni/Gassmann Stephanie Table 2.2c New original Singspiele produced by the National Singspiel company, 1778-83 (some of these were based on pre-existing works, but received new musical settings by Viennese composers) Year of Title (original title and author[s] if Librettist production adaptation) Composer 1778 Die Bergknappen Diesmal hat der Mann den Willen (Le Maiire en droit by Le Monnier and Gretry) Die Apotheke Die Kinder der Natur Da ist nicht gut zu raten Frühling und Liebe Der Liebhaber von fünfzehn Jahren 1779 Die schöne Schusterin, oder Die puecefarbnen Schuhe (Les Souliers mors-dores, ou La Cordonnier allemande by Ferrieres/Fridzeri) 1780 Der adelige Taglöhner Was erhalt die Männer treu Claudine von Villa Bella 1781 Adrast und Isidore, oder Die Nachtmusik Der Rauchfangkehrcr, oder Die unentbehrlichen Verräter ihrer Herrschaft Das Irrlicht, oder Endlich fand er sie (Der Irrwisch, oder Endlich Fand er sie by Bretzner) 1782 Der blaue Schmetterling Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Bretzner) Welche ist die beste Nation ? Die betrogene Arglist Rose, oder Pflicht und Liebe im Streit Paul Weidmann Ignaz Umlauf Johann Friedrich Schmidt Carlo d'Ordonez Schmidt Umlauf Johann Josef Kurz Franz Aspelmayer Stephanie Josef Bárta Schmidt Maximilian Ulbrich Stephanie J. P. E. Martini-Schwartzendorf Stephanie Umlauf Weidmann Barta Ludwig Zehnmark Martin Ruprecht Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Ignaz von Beeckc Christoph Friedrich Bretzner Franz Adam Mitscha Leopold von Auenbrugger Antonio Salieri Stephanie Umlauf Maximilian Ulbrich Ulbrich Stephanie Mozart Cornelius Hermann von Ayrenhoff Umlauf F. L. Schmidel Joseph Weigl Stephanie Johann Mederitsch Gallus 58 Die Entführung aus dem Serail fetishes female feet and keeps a collection of shoes from women with whom he has been involved, and his interest is also symbolized by his French name that is close in meaning to "foot-lover."12 Stephanie's Viennese adaptation, by contrast, emphasizes the idea that the Baron sets the scheme into motion to punish Lehne for her irreverent statements about the honor of military officials early in the first act, an idea that is clearly supported in the revised vaudeville. Not surprisingly, Stephanie also transformed the Baron's name from the fetishist Piccourt to the neutral Pikourt. In those operas of French origin that, unlike Die schöne Schusterin, were produced at the National Singspiel with an original vaudeville, the Viennese adapters often executed more minute changes that improved the vaudeville's didactic import. In his 1778 adaptation of Marmontel and Gretry's La Fausse magie (titled Die abgeredte Zauberey), for example, Stephanie added a didactic element into the concluding vaudeville. In the original opera, Lucette and her young lover Linval dupe Lucette's older suitor Dalin, who furiously rushes off the stage before the concluding vaudeville in which a comically poetic moral is presented: "Chacun de nous a son devin, qui ne repond jamais en vain" ("Everyone has his own soothsayer who never responds in vain").13 In Stephanie's rendition, Dalin (called Dalberg) stays on stage to sing his own instructive stanza to the repeating vaudeville melody (boldface is mine):14 Ich würde mich umsonst bestreben Daß sah ich wohl; es ahnte mir, Ein Etwas saß, und sprach stets hier: "Geh heim, und laß nun andre leben." Es spricht bey Alten ein Prophet Viel deutlicher als ein Planet. All my efforts would be in vain I see that now; I have suspected it all along, Something stood and urged me here: "Go home, and let the others live [in peace]." The elderly should take note of a prophet's word More than of any planetary constellations. By making Dalberg reflect on his own folly in trying to get a younger bride, Stephanie makes the ending of the Viennese opera more exemplary than the original (where Dalin never overcomes his wounded self-esteem). As in the French text, however, Stephanie is unable to overcome the awkwardness and vapidity of the repeating refrain (the final two lines of Dalberg's stanza correspond to Sedain's moral); both the French and German versions of the refrain are poetic and catchy but do not impart a clear-cut didactic message—an issue that Die Entfiihrung's vaudeville would take up a few years later. Mozart and Lessing's theory of maxims The roots of Mozart and Stephanie's approach to moralizing in Die Entfiihrung's third-act finale touch on many issues that German theater reformers were debating for several decades. The debunking of certain kinds of quasi-didactic statements Die Entführung aus dem Serail 59 as meaningless in Die Entfiihrung's vaudeville, for example, connects to the fears felt by many German intellectuals that theatrical and, more specifically, operatic didacticism was ineffective and insincere. In several chapters of his Hamburgische Dramaturgie, a collection of 52 reviews critiquing the performances by the Hamburg National Theater between 1767 and 1769, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing criticized the playwright Johann Friedrich von Cronegk for filling his pieces with meaningless maxims: "Unfortunately he [Cronegk] often tries to persuade us that colored bits of glass are gems and that witty antitheses are common sense."15 Lessing further chastised Cronegk for putting into his characters' mouths maxims that promoted misleading principles, and he demanded that playwrights use maxims only if they expressed truths that he and his contemporaries would have considered proper and universal.16 A few years before Lessing, Johann Friedrich Löwen expressed similar concerns about Cronegk's drama Codrus: Cndrvs has often been criticized for being too rich in maxims. It is true, Cronegk expresses these maxims always very nicely; but he does so, unfortunately, in the wrong place. Such a way of writing is seductive. ... One cannot give enough warning to the young poets who want to follow the tragic muse to take care to shield themselves from [incorporating] these shimmering beauties in a tragedy.17 Löwen here implies that Cronegk overused maxims simply to show off his poetic skills. Certain Viennese critics, especially Sonnenfels, also warned that the overuse of maxims, especially badly constructed ones, would kill off the audience's interest.18 Other eighteenth-century commentators focused more specifically on opera and criticized librettists for misusing maxims. The main opponents of the idea that opera could be educational originally came from Gottschcd's circle. In a 1734 article published in Gottsched's journal Beyträge zur critischen Historie der deutschen Sprache, Christian Gottlieb Ludwig claimed that a sung theater piece could not present a clear moral message, since the audience cannot understand a text that is sung.19 Also Christoph Martin Wieland commented on the idea that operas only present meaningless morals in his satirical novel Geschichte der Abderiten (published in installments in the journal Der leutsche Merkur beginning in 1774 and aimed at the cultural and political situation in Germany, especially Mannheim): But the critiques of operas always ended with the unchanging Abderitic Refrain: it still is a nice piece—and it shows a lot of morality. "Nice Moral Lesson!" the short, fat councilor used to say—and it always happened that the pieces that he praised the most because of their wonderful moral lessons were precisely the most [artistically] impoverished ones. Operatic didacticism, Wieland humorously implies, contained an element of empty pretentiousness that either disguised the audience's lack of taste or masked the self-serving interests of the librettists. This does not mean, however, that 60 Die Entführung aus dem Serai! Wieland was absolutely opposed to explicit presentations of didactic ideas in opera; in his 1775 treatise Versuch über das deutsche Singspiel und einige dahin einschlagende Gegenstände, he postulated that the ideal German Singspiel should "offer the audience numerous opportunities to be captivated by beautiful moral ideals and bring forth a large amount of insightful maxims."21 Thus maxims were viewed as immensely beneficial for the worthiness of German opera but only if used appropriately. Mozart's setting of Stephanie's maxims indirectly engages with these theatrical debates. Certain maxims (such as the vaudeville refrain) are debunked as unsubstantial and fake, thus evoking the fears of Lessing, Wieland, Sonnenfels and others. At the same time, by creating his sublimated, communal voice for the presentations of the more important educational announcements (such as the anti-vengeance maxim in the vaudeville), Mozart belies his desire to use operatic didacticism as a means of transforming the audience into more upright citizens.22 Mozart's setting of the anti-vengeance maxim also resonates with Lessing's theory of gestures used in the presentations of maxims. In chapters 2-4 of the Hamburgische Dramaturgie, Lessing lists various rules that, as he believes, would help actors bring out the meaning of maxims more emphatically to the audience. Lessing bases these rules on the acting skills of Konrad Ekhof, one of the most famous actors in the Hamburg National Theater troupe. Several of these principles call for the application of proto-Brechtian alienation effects.23 Lessing demands, for example, that moral sentences be expressed with a mixture of enthusiastic conviction ("Begeisterung"), a relaxed manner, and a certain coolness ("mit Gelassenheit und einer gewissen Kälte")24 The proportion of enthusiasm and tranquility should differ according to the situation in which the maxim is uttered; in placid situations, the manner of presentation should have more enthusiasm than tranquility, whereas in more turbulent situations the actors should strive to calm the passions. In other words, Lessing prescribes that the gestures used by actors to present maxims should be starkly different from the gestures with which they accompany the utterances that surround these maxims. Lessing proceeds to various types of gestures that actors should use to successfully impersonate a character who delivers a maxim: When, in a frantic situation, the soul seems suddenly to gather itself, to throw a reflective glance at the situation at hand; then it is natural that it will take command of all the bodily movements. Not only does the voice become calm, the limbs also achieve a state of tranquility, in order to express the inner composure, without which the eye of reason cannot look around and contemplate. At once, the striding feet stand still, the arms sink down, the whole body moves into the horizontal position; a pause—and then the reflection. The man stands there, in a solemn stillness, as if he did not want to disturb himself from hearing what he is saying. The reflection is over— another pause—and then he starts once more either moving around at once or he puts his limbs into motion gradually, depending on whether the reflection is aimed at taming his passions or at invigorating them.25 Die Entführung aus dem Serail 61 A successful enactment of a moral maxim therefore requires a mental and physical transformation from the actors that allows them to create the impression of a radical shift in the impersonated character's emotional state—a rupture, stressed by the pauses that surround it. Lessing's image of the onstage character listening to his own voice as he announces maxims, moreover, introduces the notion that the character's personality splits into two, and that a new transcendental voice emerges during moments of moral instruction. Lessing's admiration for Ekhof suggests that in a play it was often the actors and their skills in using specific parenthesizing techniques that moved the audience to perceive a maxim as a transcendental truth rather than a wearisome digression from the plot. Playwrights of his day possessed few devices to estrange maxims from the rest of the dramatic material or to direct actors to present maxims ■jffectiyely. Sometimes they would set the maxims off with dashes, as Lessing often docs in his dramas. At other times, they could write the whole play in a rhythmic pattern and then interrupt this pattern for a maxim. The shifting, contrasting styles in Mozart's setting of Die Entführung^ maxims work towards a similar goal, though arguably in a more effective way; in many productions of Die Entführung, Mozart's music in fact prompts stage directors to have the performers strike a relaxed and static pose; in response to the earnestness of Mozart's music, the performers also often turn towards the audience during this moment. Through the suddenly elevated musical style and the communal mode of presenting the anti-vengeance message, Mozart also creates the impression that a transcendental narrator makes use of the bodies of the onstage singers, which connects to Lessing's idea of a solemn, partially disembodied voice of an actor announcing a maxim. Lessing's ideas on theater and didacticism became widespread throughout the German-speaking theatrical community in the late eighteenth century, and they clearly also made a strong impression on the theater establishment in Vienna, as can be seen in numerous Viennese treatises on German theater discussed in Chapter 1. More specifically, the censor Hägelin cites a passage about maxims from Lessing's Hamburgische Dramaturgie in his handwritten "Guidelines" of 1795: The aesopic fables contain moral teachings, and so should the fable of a drama. Lessing says: "The moral [teaching or maxim] is a generalized sentence drawn out of the special circumstances of the characters in the drama; through its generalizing tone it [a moral teaching] become somewhat alienated from the subject of the drama, it is marked by an excessive quality, and the less attentive or less astute spectators will not understand or perceive its connection to the present subject [of the theater play or the life outside of theater]."2 Clearly, the ideals of didactic German theater were pursued both by the authors of new German works and by the state authorities designed to control them. The most direct indication that Mozart himself was strongly invested in the ideas of German theater reform in the period of Die Ent/Uhrung's inception (apart from the music itself) is the remark he made in the famous letter to his father from September 26, 1781. Mozart describes that he changed a line in the text 62 Die Entführung aus dem Serail of Konstanzen first aria ("Ach, ich liebte," No. 6) from "Doch im Hui schwand meine Freunde" to "Doch wie schnell schwand meine Freude" (both mean "But how quickly my happiness disappeared," though the original is more informal due to the phrase "im Hui"). Mozart takes particular issue with the colloquialism "im Hui" that appeared in Bretzner's text and that Stephanie must have originally kept in his adaptation: "I really don't know what our German poets are thinking of;—Even if they do not understand theater, [at least] as far as opera is concerned, they should not make the people [i.e., the onstage characters] talk as if they were addressing a herd of swine."27 Mozart's remarks resonate with the concerns of Viennese censors and aestheticians about proper language and more broadly with the line of thought according to which the theater should educate and cultivate German audiences.28 In his Briefe über die Wienerische Schaubühne, for example, Sonnenfels outlined the importance of using German-language comedy to develop "proper" conversational German language skills in the population.2 Some contemporary commentators, moreover, viewed the founding of the National Theater as highly influential in the attempts to regulate spoken German in Vienna. In his 1781 report from Vienna, for instance, the well-known journalist Wilhelm Ludwig Wekhrlin (1739-1792) wrote that "these days people [in Vienna] not only speak German ... but also want to ... speak it nicely" although "once the spoken German in Vienna was atrocious," and that this change was "perhaps indebted to the influence of the theater."30 Absolutist vs. Bourgeois31 Stephanie's new plot twist in Die Entführungen denouement in which Selim grants mercy to the son of his arch-enemy parallels procedures typical for opera seria and therefore has been viewed as reflecting the absolutist political system in Austria.32 Bretzner published his original Belmont und Constanze in Leipzig, and the musical settings of this North German libretto by various composers would therefore be produced by commercial theater companies catering to middle-class patrons, interested in sentimental plots rather than celebrations of noble heroes and wise rulers typical for the courtly opera seriaP The Viennese adaptation, by-contrast, was written for an imperial theater, and Pasha Selim's decision to break the customs of his land and forgive those who broke the rules serves as a symbolic school of conduct for and represents the power of absolutist monarchs. The differences between Bretzner's and Stephanie's librettos, in other words, mirror the divergent social and political functions of Viennese and north German operas. Two other National Singspiel operas with librettos by Stephanie contain moments where a ruler uses his absolute power to promote a moralistic viewpoint, just as in Die Entführung: Da ist nicht gut zu rathen ("There Is No Good Advice") and Das Irrlicht, oder Endlich fand er sie ("Will o' The Wisp, or He Finally Found Her"—see Table 2.2c). Yet, the moments of mercy in all three operas in fact go beyond the absolutist, seria-like viewpoints and pay intense attention to the concerns of German theater's non-aristocratic audiences. Some of the messages presented in Die Entführung* finale, particularly the one about taming one's passions, Die Entführung aus dem Serail 63 seems to be directed to a much larger segment of society than monarchs and nobles. Pasha Selim, the actual absolutist figure, does not even participate in the celebration of his own merciful decision and remains quiet throughout the vaudeville (this mainly due to the fact that his is a spoken role); it is the two couples of more orless lower rank that present the praises of the Pasha's decision.34 The manner in which various didactic messages are presented in Mozart's vaudeville, moreover, seems to grow out of a concern to lay out the moralistic lesson clearly and emphatically and to as wide an audience as possible. This relative disregard for the absolutist figure already appears in Da ist nicht gut zu rathen, where a beneficent governor of a Chinese province rules in favor of a couple of lovers threatened by the intrigues of an old, lecherous man and a corrupt priest. Yet, the concluding vaudeville celebrates not the governor's noble decision but the idea of age-appropriate marriage for love, typical for eighteenth-century German bourgeois drama and comedy.35 Das Irrlicht, oder Endlich fand er sie emphasized absolutist viewpoints even more emphatically than Die Entführung and Da ist nicht gut zu rathen, yet its authors also foiled the celebration of a ruler with a more general, anti-seria message reminiscent of eighteenth-century German bourgeois theater. Stephanie based his libretto on Bretzner's 1779 Der Irrwish, oder Endlich fand er sie, and the differences between the two works reflected specifically Viennese sensibilities. The plot of both Bretzner's and Stephanie's versions centers on Alwin, the prince of a fairy-tale island, who turns into a will-o'-the-wisp every night due to a curse and needs to find an innocent bride to break the spell. Eventually, Alwin meets Blanka, a long-lost daughter of his own courtier Fabriz, found and reared by the fisherman Berthold and his wife Rosa. Alwin asks Blanka to come to court, but Rosa decides to pose as Blanka and become Alwin's wife herself. The treachery is revealed at the end of the second act, and this is where the north German and the Vienna versions differ significantly. Whereas in Bretzner's version Alwin promises to pardon Berthold and Rosa if they bring Blanka to him, in Stephanie's version he grants mercy to the evil couple without any condi-. tions and in spite of the objections by his court officials. Unlike Pasha Selim or the Chinese governor, Alwin is an actual prince, and the absolutist viewpoint is therefore more prominent in Das Irrlicht than in Die Entführung and Da ist nicht gut zu rathen. Into the ending of the second act of the Viennese Das Irrlicht, however, Stephanie also newly incorporated an exemplary transformation of the non-aristocratic Rosa from a covetous and perfidious villainess into a penitent who humbly acknowledges her crimes, reflects upon them critically, and expresses concern about the well-being of her foster-daughter. It would seem logical that the depiction of Rosa's penitence originated in the north German original, because it would have appealed to the bourgeois audiences of Leipzig and Berlin. Yet, in Bretzner's Der Irrwisch Rosa in fact remains greedy and self-centered throughout the end of the act. The mixture of absolutist and bourgeois didacticism in the National Singspiel operas corresponded to the diversity of the institution's real and imagined audiences.36 Joseph IPs National Theater had a hybrid social and cultural status that merged the preoccupations of an ancien regime court theater with the concerns of a literate theater movement that subscribed to bourgeois values and tastes. Similar cross-pollination of social and political agendas that might seem as socially 64 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Die Entführung aus dem Serail 65 incongruous marked operatic repertoire elsewhere in Europe. Martha Feldman has described a gradual transformation of opera seria in late eighteenth-century Italy into a genre that resonated more and more with the concerns of the middle class.37 As is well-known, Joseph II had an aversion to opera seria. and in Vienna it was therefore Singspiel (and to some extent also opera buffa) that combined absolutist worldviews with bourgeois ideologies. The moralistic messages of operas such as Die Entführung and Das Irrlicht therefore expressed the social and political concerns of multiple groups and institutions. On the one hand, these "national" operas represented the imperial family and their cultural policies as progressive and abreast of the latest trends in European culture—in a 1779 letter to his friend Friedrich Nicolai, for example, Joseph II's state councilor Tobias Philipp von Gebler thought that the newly established National Singspiel "could measure up to any Italian court theater in terms of musical perfection and beauty."38 On the other hand, the National Singspiel also reflected the achievements and interests of the German theater reformers that stretched beyond the concerns of the aristocratic courts and represented the ideals of the emerging bourgeoisie.39 The concern of Joseph II's theater administration about non-aristocratic audiences is clear from the 1779 renovation of the Burgtheater, which, in Dorothea Link's estimation, increased the number of single seats and standing room for non-aristocrats in the so-called second parterre on the ground floor and on the third level of the auditorium from 630 to at least 770.40 The presentation of the reformist morals, furthermore, responded to the calls by Joseph II's officials and numerous intellectuals to use theater as a means of educating the illiterate 1 ower c lasses. As Otto Schindler has pointed out, ticket prices went down markedl y after the founding of the National Theater, but the drop was particularly significant for the cheapest seats on the fourth level of the Burgtheater, viewed by most eighteenth-century observers as the place for the "Pöbel," the least sophisticated audiences and ones that theater reformers viewed as most urgently in need of moral and cultural instruction.41 It was this ability to bring together diverse social groups of late eighteenth-century Vienna, reflect upon their purportedly superior morals, but also introduce these morals to those still in need of cultivation that made Joseph II's National Theater and the works produced there truly "national." Italianate finales and German morals Whereas in the third-act vaudeville finale Mozart and Stephanie point out the way in which German artists can improve upon the potential weaknesses of French operatic conventions, Die Entfiihrung's second-act finale comments on the didactic potential of opera buffa. Although full-blown buffo finales became established as a common feature of Viennese German opera only through the German works of Dittersdorf of the later 1780s, modest multi-sectional finales appeared already in six out of the fifteen original German operas produced by the National Singspiel, including the second act of Die Entführung.42 Stephanie himself emphasized the importance of Italianate finales in his handwritten evaluation of the libretto for the opera Der Sylphe, submitted to the directors of the National Singspiel in 1779; he advised the librettist to employ "more duets, trios, and also seemlier and more extensive concluding ensembles" ("mehr Duetten, Terzetten und auch schicklichere und vollständigere Schlußgesänge").43 Conspicuously, Stephanie wrote the note in the same year in which he completed his own very first multi-sectional finale in Die schöne Schusterin. John Platoff explained that one of the most common features of buffo finales is the alternation between passages of action and moments of reflection 44 It is during the moments of reflection that didactic generalizations occasionally appear.45 An example of buffo moralizing that is roughly contemporary with Die Entfuhrung can be found in the first-act finale of Giovanni Paisiello and Giovanni Bertati's 1779 Ifilosofi immaginari ("The Imaginary Philosophers")—an opera the German translation of which became one of the most popular works produced by the National Singspiel (it was one of eight new adaptations of Italian operas for the company, see Table 2.2). At the end of the finale Cassandra and Clarice, two daughters of the pseudo-philosopher Petronio, contend for the attention of Clarice's lover Giuliano (who pretends to be a student of the made-up scholar Argatifontidas) and start insulting one another. Petronio and Giuliano attempt to stop the quarrel at first, but in the finale's concluding stretto the four characters contemplate the situation communally and self-prescribe patience, silence, and prudency:46 TUTTI Ecco per niente affatto Che si altera il cervello, E nascer puö un flagello, Da farci beffeggiar. This is how for nothing, The reason can be clouded, And a storm can be born, And make us seem ridiculous. Silenzio qua si faccia: Si adopri la prudenza: Bisogna aver pazienza, Per non precipitar. Let there be silence here, Let's learn to be prudent, It is necessary to have patience To avoid a fall. Paisiello detached the maxim from the earlier quarrel music by a fermata and brought down the dynamic level. He also had the characters repeat the maxim several times, often in canonic imitation. The fast tempo of delivery, which often slips into patter, lends a cheerful, tongue-in-cheek character to the maxim presentation. Similarly lighthearted maxims appear in many buffo works performed in Vienna in the Italian original or in German translation throughout the 1780s (other famous examples come in the second-act finales of Paisiello's // barbiere di Siviglia and // re Teodoro in Venezia, premiered in the Burgtheater in 1783 and 1784). Maxims also play an important role in the second-act finale of Die Entfuhrung, though in Mozart's opera they are much more prominent and serious than in the works of Paisiello. The whole finale consists of three action-reflection cycles, two of which conclude with explicit didacticism. In the first cycle, Belmonte and Con-stanze express joy at meeting after a long separation, while the servants plan the details of the escape, and then all four characters reflect about their hopes for a happy future. The quartet could end right then, since no further issues need to be resolved—no imbroglio builds up, unlike in many buffo finales. Instead, Mozart 66 Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Stephanie have Belmonte and Pedrillo question the fidelity of their beloveds.47 Constanze and Blonde are offended by their suspicions, and Belmonte and Pedrillo take the women's angry reactions as proof of their faithfulness. The characters ruminate about the situation in an expressive section that concludes with two maxims: ľ Constanze und Blonde: Wenn unsrer Ehre wegen Die Männer Argwohn hegen, Verdächtig auf uns sehen, Das ist nicht auszustehen. Belmonte und Pedrillo: So bald sich Weiber kränken, Wenn wir sie untreu denken, Dann sind sie wahrhaft treu, Von allem Vorwurf frei. Constanze and Blonde: If men harbor mistrust About our honor And regard us with suspicion, This is not to be borne. Belmonte and Pedrillo: As soon as women fret If we think them unfaithful, Then they are really true And free from all reproach. The arrival of the maxims initiates a series of musical ruptures (starting with the Andantino in m. 192) analogous to that introducing the anti-vengeance maxim in the third-act finale (see Example 2.1). u.. -1... >KI)HII.I.U häll y Hi GENER-\L REFLECTION "> Andantino Example 2.1 (Continued) Example 2.1 (Continued) 68 Die Entführung aus dem Serail ^[ÄJarrivalatthk KINALK'S LARGE-SCIALEDOMIYAY Example 2.1 Die Entführung, second-act finale, generalized reflection. The setting of the maxims combines the pastoral sounding 6/8 meter and siciiiano rhythm with an ecclesiastical four-part homophony and thus generates the impression that something noteworthy, a Utopian vision perhaps, is being communicated at this moment (though the fact that the two maxims are being presented at the same time and are therefore incomprehensible diminishes their Die Entführung aus dem Serail 69 didactic effectiveness)48 In the following section, the couples resolve their quarrel and conclude with another maxim:49 Es lebe die Liebe! Nur sie sei uns teuer, Nichts fache das Feuer Der Eifersucht an. Long live love! Only love should be worthy to us, Nothing should spark the fire, Of jealousy. Mozart allots only a few measures to the phrase in which all four characters express relief ("Wohl es sei nun abgethan!" ["Well, let's resolve everything now!"]; mm. 251-258, Example 2.2) and extends the maxim into a stretta of 109 measures (mm. 258-267), featuring four separate canons, unison declamation, and an exalted alia breve march.50 The musical topos transports the characters out of a Turkish garden into a church-like setting and lends an aura of otherworldly earnestness to the concluding exhortation. The instrumentation plays a role as well, and the solemnity of the moment is enhanced by the return of the trumpets and the timpani. Mozart further strengthened the prominence of moral concerns in the finale through the overall tonal plan. The quartet starts and ends in D major. The developmental middle section (mm. 89-208), in which the men question their lovers' fidelity, centers around G minor, with several brief excursions into other key areas, such as B-flat major and E-flat major at the moments when Belmonte and Pedrillo announce their fearful suspicions, and B-flat minor at the moment when Constanze and Blonde protest against their accusations. The Andantino section that presents the two maxims at the end of the second action-expression cycle coincides with the beginning of the return to D major via its dominant (A major), Conspicuously, this important harmonic turn towards the original key does not correspond to any striking dramatic alteration within the plot. Many previous commentators have pointed out that Die Entführung^ second-act finale both grows out of arid departs from the conventions of buffo finales, but they tended to view the distinction between Mozart and his Italian models in terms of inner psychological development of the onstage characters.51 To some extent, this difference is also illustrated in Die Entführung and Ifilosofi immagi-nari. Bertati and Paisiello's finale is based on action, and the final maxim results from an accidental quarrel between Cassandra and Clarice. Die Entführung^ finale, by contrast, is motivated not by any external twist in the plot but merely by the suspicions of the men. The supposed psychological inwardness of Mozart's finale, however, disappears during the concluding stretta. Whereas in the opening portions of the finale the onstage characters retain their distinct musical and dramaturgical identity (the men are differentiated from the women, and the noble characters are distinguished from the servants), these identities are dropped in the presentation of the final maxim: the characters sing the same text and music (especially in the canonic sections). The musical uniformity of the vocal parts turns the four onstage characters into a communal, generalized BRIEF p CELEBRATION r Example 2.2 (Continued) Die Entführung aus dem Serail 71 FINAL MORAL (STARTS AS A CANON) Allegro p Bl. 0 it -n rl r r! i^f Example 2.2 Die Entführung, second-act finale, plot resolution and the transition to final maxim. chorus. This chorus, moreover, seems to be reaching outward, as if a transcendental preacher were turning towards a congregation to ensure that everyone understands the lesson behind the finale. The resulting presentation is therefore didactic rather than psychological. 72 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Mary Hunter has noted that the dissolution of the individual onstage characters into an "undifferentiated group utterance" represents a defining feature of the conclusions to buffo ensembles.32 In Paisiello's finale, for example, the final tutti creates an impression of unanimity although the conflicts presented earlier in the plot, especially that between Clarice and Cassandra, have not been resolved. According to Hunter, similar communal moments mirror the social implications of late-eighteenth-century Italian comic operas, especially the idea about the accommodation of different individuals and their interest within a larger social order.53 Mozart's moment of intense collective moralizing at the end of Die Entführung's second-act finale conveys a similar and perhaps even more emphatic notion of community building. And since Die Entführung was written for the National Theater, Mozart's dissolution of the four lovers into a de-individualized chorus evokes not just any community but specifically a national collective of individuals unified by their superior morals. Other models for Mozart's Buffo finale Mozart's intensely didactic approach to Die Entführung'?, second-act finale to some extent responds to what so many German intellectuals in Josephine Vienna perceived as an insufficient dedication to moral education in Italian opera (see Chapter 1). At the same time, Mozart might be referencing didacticism in specific non-Italian operas performed at the National Singspiel. Especially close to the subject and musical structure of Die Entfiihrung's second-act finale is the third-act finale of Grétry and Marmontel 's L 'Amant jaloux ("The Jealous Lover"), premiered in Paris in 1778 and produced by the National Singspiel in 1780 (in Stephanie's translation under the title Der eifersüchtige Liebhaber)^* Ľ Amant jaloux's male protagonist, Don Alonze, is cured of his chronic jealousy during the multi-sectional finale to the third act, in which the other characters urge him to be more trusting and less fickle. Grétry expands the exhortation into a mini vaudeville in B major and simple duple meter, and thus distinguishes it from the rest of the concluding ensemble where the characters express joy at the happy turn of events in E major and compound duple meter (6/8). Grétry's musical emphasis on the moral exhortation to some extent prefigures Mozart's Die Entführung. But Die Entfiihrung's second-act finale intensifies the message about jealousy in a more grandiose manner, with multiple, musically varied statements that are quite unlike Grétry's repetitive vaudeville refrain. As David Charlton has pointed out, moreover, the anti-jealousy vaudeville in L 'Amant jaloux is "sandwiched" between two statements of the celebratory stanza about happiness, and the French finale concludes with emotional reflection.55 Mozart's second-act finale, by contrast, dwarfs the emotional phrase and concludes with prolonged statements of the maxim. Mozart and Stephanie also went beyond earlier National Theater Singspiele with Italianate finales, most of which focused on comedy, not morals. Mozart did have one model for his educational buffo finale: the second-act finale of Umlaufs Das Irrlicht. Stephanie created Das Irrlicht's second-act finale by transforming the plot found in Bretzner's original 1779 libretto into a moralistic tale—a procedure that closely prefigures Die Entführung and thus points to Stephanie as Die Entführung aus dem Serail 73 56 an important instigator of the National Singspiel's intensely didactic character. At the end of Bretzner's original second act, the villainess Rosa, pretending to be her own foster daughter Blanka, enters the temple of a goddess, where her treachery is revealed by thunder. Although he is appalled at her perfidy, Prince Alwin promises mercy if Rosa finds his beloved Blanka. Bretzner concludes the act with a duet in which Rosa and her husband Berthold bicker and bemoan their lost opportunity. In the Viennese libretto, Stephanie replaced the maidens' chorus, the duet for Berthold and Rosa, and the intervening dialogue with a multi-sectional finale that concludes with a moralistic address (see Table 2.3). In a series of action-reflection cycles, Alwin and the courtiers express their confusion about Rosa's deception (parts 1 and 2 of Table 2.3); Rosa and Berthold express regret for their trespasses, and plea for Alwin's clemency (part 3 of Table 2.3); AJwin magnanimously grants mercy (part 4 of Table 2.3); the courtiers Fabriz and Sever demand more severe punishment for Rosa and Berthold; and Alwin rejects them with a maxim (parts 5 and 6 of Table 2.3): Fehlen ist den Menschen eigen: Wollte man nie Gnade zeigen, Wer bestände vor dem Thron! To err is human: If the sovereign never showed mercy, Who would not be guilty in front of him!5 The act concludes with a celebration of Alwin's merciful deed (part 7 of Table 2.3). Stephanie here accomplished a moralistic expansion similar to that in the conclusions to the second and third acts of Die Entführung. Table 2.3 Musico-dramatic structure of second-act finale in Umlaufs Das Irrlicht Musical details German text English translation Pari I—Opening Shock Tutti and Investigation 4/4 Two Flats Allegro Vivace B-flat major (refers to cadences as they occur at the end of lines of text) CHOR DER JUNGFRAUEN: Zurück! Zurück! Zurück! Welch schreckliches Geschick Droht uns die Donner Stimme? Entflieht der Göttin Grimme, Wagt euch nicht herbei. Hier ist Verräterei! JUNGFRAUEN, SEVER, FABRIZ, DAS GEFOLGE DES PRINZEN: Hier ist Verräterei! ERSTE JUNGFRAU: Der Donner rollte nie So schwer und gewaltsam, So schnell, so unaufhaltsam! MAIDENS' CHORUS: Step away! With what an awful fate Does Ihe thunderous voice threaten us? Escape from the wrath of the goddess, Do not dare to approach. There is treachery in here! MAIDENS, SEVER, FABRIZ, THE RETINUE OF THE PRINCE: There is treachery in here! THE FIRST MAIDEN: The thunder has never rumbled So strongly and powerfully, So quickly, so inexorably. (.Continued) Musical details German text English translation T F minor F major F minor F minor E-flat major E-flat i TUTTI: Noch nie! Hier ist Verräterei! ALWIN: Gott! Blanka ist für mich verloren! Sie, die mein Herz sich auferkoren! Nun schwindet meine Hoffnung hin. BERTHOLD: Das wird nun eine Wäsche geben! Ach ließ man mir nur mein armes Leben. Ich bleibe gerne was ich bin! ROSA: Was für Schrecken hat mich überfallen! Kaum fühl ich's Blut in Adern wallen, Angst, Furcht erfüllt nun meinen Sinn. ALWIN/ROSA/BERTHOLD: Wo wird mein Herz jetzt Ruhe finden ' Nun seh ich alle Hoffnung schwinden / Wo werd' ich Schutz und Hilfe finden, Ach, nun ists mit mir vorbei! ERSTE JUNGFRAU: Prinz! Hier ist Verräterei! TUTTI: Hier ist Verräterei! SEVER (zuRosen): Sagt, wer seid ihr, laßt euch sehen. FABRIZ: Sprecht, sonst wirds euch übel gehen. ROSA: Ach Prinz! Gnade, Gnade, Gnade! BERTHOLD: Nur für mich, ich war ein Tropf, Folgte ihrem eitlen Kopf. TUTTI: Never! There is treachery in here! ALWIN: Heavens! Blanka is lost for me! She, whom my heart has chosen! My hope diminishes now! BERTHOLD: There will be hustle now! Oh, if only 1 could save my bare life. Gladly will I remain in my current station. ROSA: What terror has befallen me! 1 can hardly feel the blood in my veins, fear and terror fill my mind. ALWIN/ROSA, BERTHOLD Where will my heart find comfort / Now all hope vanishes / Where will I find protection and help, Ah, this will be my end. THE FIRST MAIDEN: There is treachery in here! TUTTI: There is treachery in here! SEVER (to Rosa): Say, who are you, let us see your face. FABRIZ: Speak, or you will be punished. ROSA: Ah, prince, mercy, mercy, mercy! BERTHOLD: [Mercy] for me only, I was a fool, I followed her vain ideas. Musical details German text English translation E-flat major Modulating to B-flat Doch um sie ist es nie der geringste Schade. ALWIN: Was seh ich! Entzücken! 0 Freude! O Wonne! But have no pity on her. ALWIN: What do 1 see! Delight, joy, bliss! Part 2—Alwin's Happiness 2/4 ALWIN: ALWIN: Two Flats Was seh ich! Entzücken! What do I see! Delight! Presto 0 Freude! 0 Wonne! Oh, what joy and bliss! B-ňat major Gleich wie oft die Sonne, As the sun often, Die Wolken durchbricht, Shines through the clouds, So senket mit Blicken So with a single glance Des Lebens sich wieder The hope for a happy life Die Hoffnung hernieder. Descends upon me. F major Blanka ist's nicht! This is not Blanka! ALLE (außer Rosa und EVERYONE (except for Rosa and Berthold): Berhold): Blanka ist's nicht? ' This is not Blanka? ALWIN: ALWIN: F major Nein Blanka ist's nicht! No, this is not Blanka! ALLE (außer Rosa und EVERYONE (except for Rosa and Berthold): Berhold): So kehre dann Freude Then joy and hearty jesting Und muthiges Scherzen Of constant bliss shall return Dauernder Wonne For ever into our hearts In unsere Herzen And make us Verdoppelt zurück! Doubly happy. 0 Freude, o Wonne, Oh, joy, oh, bliss, B-flat major 0 Jubel, o Glück! Oh, jubilation, oh, happiness! Part 3—Questioning the Evil Couple 4/4 ALWIN: ALWIN: Two Flats Sprich, wer bist du? Keine Speak, who are you? No lies! Recitative Lüge! G minor—G major Willst du anders fur den If you want to find mercy Frevel Den du begangen Gnade For the crimes that you committed. finden. Adagio ROSA: ROSA: Gnade! Ach! Ich will mich Mercy! Ah! I will admit, nennen, Mein Vergehen frei bekennen, Confess all my trespasses. All das Meine tragen bei, Relate everything, F major Das noch Blanka glücklich sei. So that Blanka can still be happy. (Continue* Musical details German text English translation Part 4—Bestowing Mercy 6/8 ROSA/BERTHOLD: ROSA/BERTHOLD: Two Flats Prinz, ach, lassen Sie sich Prince, ah, allow us to appease vou, rühren, Allegro Uns ihr gnädig' Mitleid Let us feel your merciful pit_\ / Let Maestoso spüren, / Mich nur ihre only me feel your mercy, Gnade spüren, G minor Schenken sie uns ihre Huld / Grant us your grace / Since she Denn sie hat allein die Schuld. alone is to blame. ALWIN: ALWIN: wohlan, ich schenke euch das Well then, I grant > our lives to you, Leben, Und will euch alles gern And 1 want to forgive even thing. vergeben. G minor Doch erst wenn Blanka hier But only when Blanka is brought erscheint! hither! JUNGFRAUEN, ROSA, MAIDENS, ROSA, BERTHOLD BERTHOLD: O lebe lange uns zum Schilde, Oh, live long to our protection, Daß sich in deinem Since in your glorious image Götterbilde F major So viele Gnade und Huld You combine so much mercy and vereint. grace. Part 5—Fabriz and Sever Question Alwin's Decision 4/4 FABRIZ: FABRIZ: Two Sharps Herr, erlaube, zu viel Güte Lord, allow, too much kindness Allegro Maestoso Mehrt in Zukunft das multiplies D major Verbrechen, Crimes in the future, Widerrufe dein Versprechen, Renounce your promises, Strafe ihre Missetat. Punish their misdeed. SEVER: SEVER: Ja, Herr, laß die Frevler büßen, Yes, lord, let the criminals expiate. Sie in finstre Kerker Schlüssen, Lock them into a dark dungeon, A major Die sich dir so frech genaht. They treated you with such insolence. ROSA/BERTHOLD: ROSA/BERTHOLD: Hints at D minor Weh mir armen! Laß uns Woe is me! Let us go 'Ah, throughout the gehn.'Ach Erbarmen! Das compassion! How great that section war' schön. would be. Kann man sich so grausam Can someone show so much zeigen / Wollen die denn gar cruelty / Why are they not silent. nicht schweigen, Da der Fürst von Gnade When the prince speaks of mercy / spricht ' Wenn der Prinz nur When the prince speaks once wieder spricht. again. Musical details German text English translation D maj or FABRIZ/SEVER: Laß sie büssen, laß sie Schlüssen. Solche Frevler abzuschrecken / Solche Frevel zu verdecken Ist der Fürsten ihre Pflicht. / Bringt noch grössere ans Licht. ALWIN: Nein sie sollen Gnade finden! JUNGFRAUEN/ROSA und BERTHOLD: Das ist edel, groß gedacht1 / Ach, wie glücklich uns das macht! FABRIZ/SEVER: Let them expiate, let them be locked. To scare off criminals like these / To uncover crimes like these Is the mam duty of a ruler. / Brings even greater crimes to light. ALWIN: No, they shall have mercy! MAIDENS/ROSA and BERTHOLD: That is noble, great decision! / Ah, how happy that makes us! Part 6—Battle of Maxims 3/4 ALWIN: Three Fiats Fehlen ist den Menschen Andantino eigen, E-flat major Wollte man nie Gnade zeigen, Wer bestünde vor dem Thron! SEVERTABRIZ: Doch zu solchen Taten Schweigen / Wahrlich zu viel Gnade zeigen, Dabei keine Strenge zeigen ' Und zu solchen Freveln schweigen, Macht Verbrechern neuen Muth / Ist am Ende gar nicht gut. ROSA/BERTHOLD/ (FABRIZ, SEVER, ALWIN) Welche Herzen, welche Strenge! .' Mir wirds um die Brust zu enge, Sicher hört er sie noch ein E-flat major Und dann ists um mich gethan. ALW1N: To err is human: If the sovereign never shows mercy, Who would not be guilty in front of the throne! SEVER/FABRIZ: But to remain silent about such crimes / To bestow too much mercy, To show little strength / To remain silent in face of such crimes, Encourages the criminals / Is not very good in the end. ROSA/BERTHOLD/(FABRIZ, SEVER, ALWIN) What sternness of mind! / Fear fills my heart, The prince might still change his decision, And that would be my end. Part 7—Final Decision and Celebration 4/4 ALWIN (zu Sever und Fabriz): Two Fiats Ihr werdet meinen Willen Presto Assai Aufs pünktlichste erfüllen, E-flat major Und widersprecht nicht mehr. ALWIN (to Sever and Fabriz): You will follow my decision With the greatest precision, And do no longer contradict me. {Continued) 78 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Musical detaiis German text English translation r {zu Rosa und Berthold) Euch ist indeß vergeben, Doch zittert für das Leben, Kommt Blanka nicht mehr her. {zu allen vorhandenen) Man eile und bringe Sie schleunigst herüber! (Ach, daß es gelinge!) Je eher, je lieber, Dann blüht mein Glück. Dann warten mich Freuden, Dann denk' ich der Leiden Mir keines zurück. Shift to B-flat JUNGFRAUEN, CHOR: major Sicher wird dir dein Begehren, Unsre Göttin ganz gewehren, Und dein edles Herz erfreun. ROSA und BERTHOLD: Blanka ist sehr wohl geborgen, Man darf also gar nicht sorgen, Daß nicht alles glücklich geht. SEVER und FABRIZ: Herr wir w erden uns bemühen, Deinen Willen zu vollziehen, Was in unseren Kräften steht. ALWIN: Ist mein Wünschen und mein Hoffen, Ganz erfüllt und eingetroffen, B-flat major Dann soll jeder glücklich sein. {to Rosa and Berihold) You shall be forgiven, But fear for your lives, If Blanka does not come. {to all present) She shall be brought Hither quickly! Ah, may it succeed! The sooner, the better, Then my happiness will bloom. Then joy awaits me, Then I will no longer Think about my suffering. MAIDENS, CHORUS: Surely will your desires, Be granted by our goddess, And your noble heart will rejoice. ROSA and BERTHOLD: Blanka is hidden very well, Nobody should worry, Everything will end happily. SEVER and FABRIZ: Lord, we will try To fulfill your wishes To the best of our abilities. ALWIN: When my wishes and my hopes Are met and fulfilled, Then everyone shall be happy. Umlaufs setting of Das Irrlichfs second-act finale, moreover, prefigured musical tropes that became prominent in later Viennese operas, such as Die Entführung, Die Zauberflöte, and Fidelio. Umlaufs music emphasized Alwin's announcement about mercy at the end of the finale. The homily comes after a brief quintet in which Fabriz and Sever try to persuade Alwin to revoke his mercy. The quintet's Allegro maestoso passage comes to a cadence in D major followed by a brief pause, and then a short instrumental prelude leads into Alwin's maxim in E-flat major, a new tempo {Andantino) and meter (3/4). The sudden switch of tempo, meter, and especially the unprepared modulation to the Neapolitan key represent the most radical musical rupture within the finale.58 This rupture does not signal any turning point within the finale's plot; after Alwin's maxim, Fabriz and Sever continue to offer counter-opinions, and Alwin's final decision to Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail 79 pardon the delinquent couple comes only later.59 Instead, the musical break functions mainly as a rhetorical figure highlighting the didactic importance of Alwin's statement. Similar to Die Entführung, moreover, the presentation of lessons about exemplary princely behavior controls the tonal structure of the finale. The opening portions (Part 1 and 2 in Table 2.3) are set in B-flat major, and the section in which Rosa and Berthold are questioned modulates into the dominant, F major (Part 3). Umlauf then goes through several modulations (Part 4) and arrives to the most distant tonal area of the finale (D major—Part 5) in the section that immediately precedes Alwin's maxim. The arrival of E-flat major that coincides with the arrival of the maxim signals the beginning of the return to the opening key of B flat and thus solidifies the importance of the educational announcement. Through the intensely moralistic second-act finales in Das Irrlicht and Die Entführung, Stephanie, Umlauf, and Mozart responded to the aesthetic ideals of the German reformed theater movement but also trumped the work of their contemporaries. One of their targets might have been the output of north German opera authors, particularly the works of the Leipzig librettist Bretzner. The attention to didactic intensity in Die Entführung and Das Irrlicht (and to a lesser extent also in many other German operas discussed in this chapter) might have been a means through which some National Singspiel librettists and composers responded to the oft-denigrating opinions about the artistic and moral standards in Viennese German theater expressed by north German intellectuals.60 Similarly, by basing the structure of their finales on the conventions of opera-comique and opera buffa while imbuing them with unusually intense didacticism, Mozart and his fellow authors of national Singspiele responded to the Viennese German critics' denigrating views of Italian and French culture. The ultimate goal of the musico-dramatic didacticism in Die Entführung and other operas written for the National Singspiel, however, must have been to demonstrate that the emerging tradition of German opera was in line with the ideals of contemporary theater aesthetics as well as with the social and political needs of the absolutist state and its enlightened monarch. As the following chapter shows, the ingeniously practical and utilitarian approach to German opera did not stop Joseph II from replacing the National Singspiel with an opera buffa company in 1783, yet the didactic intensity ofthat institution had important ramifications for later developments of Viennese musical theater. Notes 1 Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Vienna: Logenmeister, 1783), 65-Ä7. 2 Already the refrain's call to despise those who cannot overcome vengeful feelings ("den seh' man mit Verachtung an") in fact undermines the opera's humanitarian message. 3 Thomas Bauman claims that the vaudeville melody itself relates to and prepares Osmin's violent outbreak in its tonal plan. See Thomas Bauman, W. A, Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 95-96. If so, not only the dramaturgy, but also the music itself suggests that the vaudeville is morally corrupt. 4 Many interpreters have noted how unconventionally Mozart and Stephanie treated the vaudeville finale in Die Entführung but focused mainly on Osmin's outburst without 80 Die Entführung aus dem Serail paying much attention to the unusual features of the section that follows. See, for example, Krämer, Deutschsprachiges Musiktheater, 427^129. Wolfgang Willaschek thought that Mozart's musical setting of the second moral maxim was conventional and insincere. See Wolfgang Willaschek, Mozart Theater: Vom Idomeneo bis zur Zauberflöte (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1996), 116-118. 5 All stanzas in Die Entführung finale (with the exception of Osmin's digression) employ iambic tetrameter, and yet Mozart sets off the final one. This contrasts with the haphazard rhythmic patterns in individual stanzas of the vaudevilles in other Viennese operas of the period, such as the 1779 Die schöne Schusterin, where the composer Umlauf merely re-uses the same music for each stanza. 6 Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Leipzig: Schneider 1782), 72. 7 Jessica Waldoff, Recognition in Mozarts Operas (New York: Oxford University Press 2006), 63. 8 See Heinz Kindermann, "Das Publikum und die Schauspielerrepublik," in Das Burgthealer und sein Publikum, eds. Margret Dittrich and Elizabeth Grossegger (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1989), 117. In a 1776 issue of the Vienna Realzeitung, for instance, we find the following suggestion: "Aber der, der nichts angreift, als was sanft rühret, kann leicht in einen weichlichen Wüstling, in einen schwachen, zu jeder wichtigen That unfähigen Menschen ausarten. Es ist leichter, die Menschen zu verzärteln, als ihnen überlegende Vernunft, Stärke des Geistes und Herzens, Standhaftigkeit und Größe einzuflößen. Drum ist es nicht gut, wenn der Geschmack am Rührenden so die Oberhand gewinnt daß er beynahe ein ausschließliches Recht auf die Schaubühne und auf die Romane bekömmt." Realzeitung der Wissenschaften, Künste und der Comerzien (Vienna: Kurzböck, 1776), 351. 9 Les Pelerins de la Mecque, 228-230. 10 Les souliers, 86. 11 Die schöne Schusterin, 68. 12 The cultural background of the Baron's fetish is discussed in Jos van derZanden, "Beethoven's Contribution to Podoerotica: Soll ein Schuh nicht drücken, WoO 91, No. 2," The Beethoven Journal 18, no. I (Summer 2003), 5. 13 On the French opera's moral, see David Charlton, Gretry and the Growth of Opera-Comique (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 132. 14 Die abgeredte Zauberey (Vienna: Logenmeister, 1778), 49. 15 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Hamburgische Dramaturgie, vol. I (Hamburg- Cramer 1767), 14. 16 Lessing, Hamburgische Dramaturgie, 15-16. 17 Johann Friedrich Löwen, Geschichte des deutschen Theaters (1766) (Berlin- Ernst Frensdorfs 1905), 49-50. 18 At one point of his Briefe he also warns against sliding into what he calls the "trockener Moralistenton." Sonnenfels, Briefe, 114, 130, and 167. 19 For a more extensive discussion of Ludwig's article, see John D. Linberg, "Gottsched gegen die Oper," The German Quarterly 40, no. 4 (1967): 679-680. 20 Christoph Martin Wjeland, Geschichte der Abdenten (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2003), 146. 21 See Christoph Martin Wieland, "Versuch über das Deutsche Singspiel und einige dahin einschlagende Gegenstände," in Sämmtliche Werke, vol. 26 (Singspiele und Abhandlungen), 221-222. 22 The fear of conventional, insincere moralizing probably also stood behind Stephanie's and Mozart's decision to leave out completely Bretzner's rondeau-duet between Blonde and Konstanze in Act II; it is the only part of Bretzner's libretto that is completely missing from Stephanie's adaptation. The duet features several generalized statements, yet, these statements do not impart any moral principles. Rather, they present a sentimental message: whoever does not lose hope (whoever keeps up good spirits), will be rewarded at the end. See Krämer, 425, and also 444 ff. Die Entführung aus dem Serail 81 23 For a discussion of the parallels between the eighteenth-century theories of theatrical didacticism and Brecht's concept of "epic theater," see Wölfel, 98, 109, and 118. 24 Lessing, Hamburgische Dramaturgie, 25. 25 Lessing, Hamburgische Dramaturgie, 27. 26 Cited in Glossy, "Zur Geschichte der Wiener Theaterzensur I„" 66. "So wie die gemeinen äsopischen Fabeln ihre Moral haben, so hat auch die Fabel eines Drama ihre Moral. Lessing sagt: 'Die Moral ist ein allgemeiner Satz aus den besonderen Umständen der handelnden Personen gezogen; durch seine Allgemeinheit wird er gewissermaßen der Sache fremd, er wird eine Ausschweifung, deren Beziehung auf das gegenwärtige von dem weniger aufmerksamen oder weniger scharffsinnigen Zuhörer nicht bemerckt oder nicht begriffen wird.'" 27 Wilhelm A. Bauer and Otto Erich Deutsch, eds., Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, vol. 3 (New York: Bärenreiter, 1963), 163. 28 The idea that music (especially choral singing) can cultivate proper pronunciation was used by German musicians in the early nineteenth century to advocate for the importance of music in the education of the general population. See Gramit, 109-111. 29 Sonnenfels, Briefe, 99. 30 Wilhelm Ludwig Wekhrlin, Die Chronologen: Ein periodisches Werk, vol. 12 (Frankfurt and Leipzig: Felßecker, 1781), 23-24. 31 As is well known, the concept of "bourgeoisie" is highly unstable and problematic in the eighteenth century. I use it interchangeably with the term "middle class," to signal a group of people and theatergoers who were not necessarily of noble origin but who had some education and would not be considered as common people or the rabble. For a discussion of the complexities of the term "bourgeois," particularly in eighteenth-century France, see Stefano Castelvecchi, Sentimental Opera: Questions of Genre in the Age of Bourgeois Drama (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 54-62. 32 Krämer, 424-425, Betzwieser, 47-48. 33 See also Krämer, 407. 34 See also Krämer, 430. 35 Da ist nicht gut zu rathen (Vienna: Logenmeister, 1778), 58-60. On the importance ofmar-riage based on mutual love for the culture directed predominantly at the German middle-classes of the eighteenth century, see Edward T. Potter, Marriage, Gender, and Desire in Early Enlightenment German Comedy (Rochester: Camden Hpuse, 2012), 15-35. 36 See Link, National Court Theater, 496^497, for a brief discussion of the possible audiences structure at the court-theater Singspiel performances and of the relative financial success these performances achieved compared to the spoken plays and opere buffe. 37 See Martha Feldman, Opera and Sovereignty: Transforming Myths in Eighteenth-Century Italy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), esp. Chapter 7. 38 Cited in Aus dem Josephinischen Wien, 97. 39 Jürgen Habermas has referred to this group of literate consumers of late eighteenth-century reformed German culture as "the public sphere." Habermas saw the public sphere as encompassing a group of educated and literate individuals predominantly associated with the middle class, but subsequent historical studies enlarged the definition by viewing it as more heterogeneous and combining bourgeoisie with aristocracy, which closely corresponds to the situation in Viennese circles pursuing the German theater reform. See Habermas, 14-56, and Joubert, 215 and 228. 40 See Link, National Court Theater, 494. 41 Otto Schindler, "Das Publikum des Burgtheaters in der Josephinischen Ära: Versuch einer Strukturbestimmung," in Das Burgtheater und sein Publikum, 42-43 and 52-53. 42 The other National Singspiel operas that contain Italianate finales are: Die schöne Schusterin (1779, Act 1), Der adeliche Taglöhner (1780, Act I), Claudine von Villa Bella (1780), Der Rauchfangkehrer (1781, acts I-I1I), Das Irrlicht (1782, Act II), and Der blaue Schmetterimg (1782, acts 1 and II). On Dittersdorf and multi-sectional finale, 82 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Die Entführung aus dem Serail 83 see Paul Horsley, "Dittersdorf and the Finale in Late-Eighteenth-Century German Comic Opera" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1988), 154. 43 HHStA, Hof. Th. SR 3, 69. Stephanie would later repeat this principle in the preface to the 1792 edition of four of his libretti, where he stressed the need to end each act of a Singspiel with a finale. One of those republished libretti was Die schöne Schusterin, his first opera with multi-sectional buffo finale. Stephanie des Jüngern sämmtliche Singspiele (Liegnitz: Siegert, 1792), xi. 44 John Platoff, "Musical and Dramatic Structure in the Opera Buffa Finale," The Journal of Musicology 7, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 194-195. See also Hunter, The Culture of Opera Buffa, 210-226. 45 Hunter, The Culture of Opera Buffa, 211 and 225. Hunter contends, however, that most concluding tutti of opera buffa focus on expressing pleasure as opposed to confirming the moral. Hunter, The Culture of Opera Buffa, 28. 46 Filosofi immaginari ([Naples]: 1784), 18. Interestingly, the maxim became even more de-individualized in the German translation that Stephanie prepared for the opera's production at the National Theater in 1781: "Da seh' man, wie doch Leute / Um nichts von Zorn entbrennen, ' Sich so betragen können, / Daß jeder sie verlacht. / Still, still, was soll das Zanken? / Vernünftig, nicht mit Hitze,.' Der Eifer ist nicht nütze, Man wird dadurch veracht" ("Here one can see, how certain people / Become angry for nothing, / [And] behave in such a way, / That everyone mocks them, / Hush, hush, why this quarreling? / Prudently, without hotheadedness, / Irritation is useless, / It puts one to shame."). Stephanie replaced the first person plural of the concluding statement as it appears in the Italian original with the impersonal pronoun "man." As a result, the tutti appears more universally valid and is less tied to the onstage reality. Die eingebildeten Philosophen (Vienna: Logenmeister, 1781), 21—22. 47 This questioning originated in a short passage of spoken dialogue in Bretzner's libretto where Bclmonte briefly asks Constanze whether she was the Pasha's lover. Mozart and Stephanie expanded this exchange quite a bit. See Betzwieser, 39-40 and Belmont und Constanze, 41-42. 48 The incomprehensibility might also have to do with the convoluted awkwardness of Stephanie's verses. On this point, see also Bauman, W. A. Mozart: Die Entführung, 52. 49 To distinguish the moral maxim from the rest of the quartet Stephanie uses the amphibrach, a rarely used poetic meter. 50 For a more detailed analysis, see Stephen Rumph, Mozart and Enlightenment Semiotics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 193-206. 51 See, for example, Kramer, 423. 52 Hunter, The Culture of Opera Buffa, 157. 53 Hunter, The Culture of Opera Buffa, 226. On this point, see also Nicholas Mathew, Political Beethoven (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 155. 54 As many have pointed out before, Mozart's fascination with the finales of Gretry's L 'amantja/oux extended into he nozze di Figaro, when he imitated a teasing rhythm of Gretry's first-act finale in the moment when Susanna emerges out of the closet instead of Cherubino in the second-act finale. See Charlton, 169. 55 Charlton, 171. 56 For a more extensive discussion of the transformation of Der Irrwisch into Das Irrlicht, see Claudia Maurer Zenck, "Die Tugend in der Hütte. Umlaufs Irrlicht—ein frühes Wiener Singspiel in Hamburg," in Musiktheater in Hamburg um 1800, ed. Claudia Maurer Zenck (Frankfurt: Lang, 2005), esp. 70-71, and Krämer, 407 ff. 57 Das Irrlicht, oder Endlich fand er sie (Vienna: Logenmeister, 1781), 52-53. 58 Another sudden switch of key occurs when Fabriz tries to persuade Alwin to punish Berthold and Rosa (see transition from Part IV to Part V in Table 2.3). At this moment a cadence in F major is followed by a D-major section; since D is a diatonic member of F major, however, this switch does not represent as radical a departure as the shift to E flat before Alwin's maxim. 59 In their attempt at changing Alwin's decision, Fabriz and Sever use maxims that oppose principles promoted by Alwin (see Part VI of Table 2.3). Krämer in fact interprets Fabriz and Sever as representatives of the more modern position of bourgeois state administration. Krämer, 405. Umlauf, nevertheless, undermines the intelligibility (and significance) of these two statements by having Fabriz and Sever sing at the same time, whereas he has Alwin present his announcement alone. 60 The scathing criticisms of Viennese theater by Friedrich Nicolai (both in the 203th letter from Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend, published in 1761, and in the report on Viennese theater in the fourth volume of his Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz, published in 1784) might be particularly relevant in this context. See Friedrich Nicolai, Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend, vol. 11, letter 203 (Berlin, 1761), 322-326, and Nicolai, Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz, im Jahre 1781, vol. 4 (Berlin and Stettin, 1784), 570-607.