Ravinia 2026 Issue 1

Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio BY JAMESCONLON “ Nothing is as ugly as vengeance. The quality of great souls is to be humanely kind, and forgive without selfishness. ” —Pasha Selim (Act III, Final Scene) IN MARCH OF 1781 , the -year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, bolting from the sti ing and provincial atmosphere of his native Salzburg, arrived in Vienna. At about the same time, Austrian emperor Joseph II—the older brother of Marie Antionette—expressed the desire that composers write a national opera, and “li the national German stage to recognition in music,” thus liberating it from the domination of Italian opera and giving native-born German singing actors an opportunity to shine. Mozart, eager for any commis- sion, especially a royal one, did just that. e result was e Abduction from the Seraglio , an early success for Mozart and for German opera. At the same time as Mozart was writ- ing, British troops surrendered to the Continental Army at Yorktown, virtually ending the American War for Indepen- dence. Meanwhile, closer to home, the Kaiser abolished serfdom, introduced religious toleration, and secretly signed a pact with Russia’s Queen Catherine aimed at marginalizing Turkish expan- sion. ere was much in the air that made a Turkish subject interesting to the emperor, the Austrians, and Mozart. Of the many issues addressed in this work, the rejection of vengeance and the power of forgiveness are at its center. ey are exempli ed in the person of Pasha Selim, a wealthy master of the tit- ular seraglio, who had ed persecution from North Africa to Türkiye. I would suggest that the work might more appropriately be called e Clem- ency of Pasha Selim , much like Mozart’s later opera, La clemenza di Tito . e central themes, as in most of Mozart’s operas, are forgiveness and the supreme power of love. In any case, the planned abduction fails to materialize. is opera is referred to as a Sing- spiel—a German word to denote a sung drama—and is characterized by the alternation of spoken dialogues and music. ese dialogues replace the traditional Italian operatic recitatives, accompanied at the keyboard. In our Ravinia version, we will replace many of the dialogues and put the story in the words of a Narrator, who doubles as the pasha. e word seraglio , which is synon- ymous with palace or harem , is rarely used in today’s world. But harem in its original and correct meaning—the women’s quarters of an ancient Moslem household; more broadly, for a Turkish palace—is an architectural term, and not a reference to persons who in fact live there. Our little story will play out at Pasha Selim’s seaside palace in Türkiye. Mozart dramatizes six characters in search of ful llment. ere are two lov- ing couples and two other men aspiring to win the love of those women. ere are two love triangles—one from the upper class, and the other, following the classical model, from the servant class. e two couples were in love before the curtain rose and remained so. In that re- gard, there is no contest nor rivalry. But in this comic drama, there are four men and two women. ereby hangs the tale. Belmonte, a young Spanish no- bleman, is searching for his beloved Konstanze, who has been sold by pirates to a North African pasha. e pasha has emigrated to Türkiye and, having bought the women from pirates, has sequestered them in a harem. Konstanze (whose German name means delity ), yearns to be rescued and reunited with her Belmonte, and the freedom to live out their sublime and faithful love. Her servant, Blondchen (Blonde, in the vernacular) is a bright and feisty British girl who challenges everyone to treat women with respect. Blonde’s lover, Pedrillo, is the Spanish servant of Belmonte who was captured with the women and sold into servitude as a gardener in the pasha’s service. ey, too, dream of nding Belmonte and winning freedom, together with Blonde and Konstanze. Osmin, the Turkish overseer of the seraglio, is a blustering but lovable low-culture stereotype who seeks his ideal woman: a slave who meets his ev- ery demand. He hopes that Blonde will be that woman. Pasha Selim is a wealthy political fugitive from Northern Africa. He, too, seeks a loving union—man and woman, equal in spiritual, intellectual, and physical harmony. He is deeply drawn to Konstanze. In the th century, Italian opera was compartmentalized: opera bu a made the public laugh, opera seria made it feel. Mozart began to break down this distinction by elevating the level of com- ic opera to concern itself with serious emotions as well. Striking out on his own, he produced timeless works of probity and beauty, explorations into the complexity of human relationships, societal strati- cation, and humankind’s place in a metaphysical and transcendent universe. He introduced psychological gravity and emotional depth into stock characters and situations. He accomplished all of this through the power of his music, RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 11 – JULY 19 , 2026 22