"Bastien und Bastienne" takes up the plot of the little French opera "Le
devin du village" (The Village Soothsayer) by the philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau. The "soothsayer" Colas, a wise old shepherd, advises the unhappy
shepherdess Bastienne to secure the love of the fickle Bastien by arousing
his jealousy. The despairing Bastien then also seeks advice from Colas, who
pretends to use magic to bring the two lovers together again. "Der
Schauspieldirektor" revolves around an impresario's problems in assembling
a group of singers for a performance.
With "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and "Die Zauberflöte," Mozart made
immortal contributions to the genre of the German Singspiel -
German-language opera with spoken dialogues. But in the course of his
career, Mozart also wrote two short German-language works that are
different in musical craftsmanship, but both utterly delightful: "Bastien
und Bastienne" K. 50, one of Mozart's earliest dramatic works, and "Der
Schauspieldirektor" (The Impresario) K. 486, a mature work written at the
same time as "Le nozze di Figaro."
Entrusting the two operas to the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater
for the Mozart 22 cycle was perfectly natural, especially since "Bastien
und Bastienne" was the very first work staged by this theater at its
inaugural performance in 1913. Nevertheless, Thomas Reichert, responsible
for the stage direction, sets and costumes, hit upon a truly brilliant
idea: instead of performing one piece after the other, he combined "Bastien
und Bastienne" and "Der Schauspieldirektor" in a way that captures the
world of the Singspiel in Mozart's day. Here the impresario is still
holding auditions, but now he's casting the Singspiel "Bastien und
Bastienne." Finding a Bastien is easy, but two potential Bastiennes sing
their arias so well that the impresario can't decide. He makes a
run-through of "Bastien und Bastienne," after which the women continue to
argue about who should get the role. The clever impresario hopes to squirm
his way out by hiring both, one as the A-cast and one as the B-cast. But
this only provokes a new quarrel about who will sing at the premiere...
Led by its founder Elisabeth Fuchs, the Junge Philharmonie Salzburg and a
cast of fresh young singers provide the spirited, light-hearted music to
this charming double fill.
The DVD is also released within the DVD package "Mozart 22 - The complete operas" which is available in selected stores worldwide and through Amazon or JPC.