Historical Background of Zaide

[dennis]

At the end of July or beginning of August 1799 Constanze Mozart and her musical advisor, Abbe Maximilian Stadler, found in Mozart's manuscripts an untitled, untexted and not completed Singspiel of Mozart's. In a letter to the publisher Gottfried Härtel on August 26, 1799, Constanze stated the Singspiel was written in the 1770s and named the characters in the Singspiel. She asked Härtel if he could help trace the title and where the spoken text could be found. Härtel placed an inquiry in the Allgemeinen Musikalischen Zeitung in December 1799 (stating it was probably written in 1778 or 1779) requesting anyone with information on this work to contact the editor. The inquiry brought no results. In March and May of 1800 Constanze communicated to Breitkopf & Härtel about this "German opera without text". She stated it was "in large part completed" and "the whole opera appears to have a large similarity with Entführung aus dem Serial...".

In reality there are few hard facts regarding this opera. The autograph, stylistic findings and biographic connection place the work in the years 1779/80 in Salzburg. The author of the libretto is believed to be the Salzburg court trumpeter Johann Andreas Schachtner. Alfred Einstein found an anonymous libretto "Das Serial" printed in 1779 in Bozen that he believed was used for the model for the opera, possibly by Franz Joseph Sebastiani. [Remember the opera has no title by Mozart, and Constanze never found one out.] This setting was set to music by Joseph von Friebert.

Why did Mozart write Zaide? Otto Jahn and later scholars assumed it was written for Salzburg, most likely for the traveling theater troupes of Böhm or Schikaneder. More recent scholars (most notably Walter Senn) believe it was written as Mozart's "first, aborted attempt to make his voice heard at the new German theater in Vienna". As early as January 11, 1778, Mozart wrote that the Emperor was planning to start a German opera in Vienna and if the Emperor will pay good "I will wrote a German opera for him". A few weeks later a dramatist in Vienna, Franz von Heufeld, recommended to Leopold Mozart that Wolfgang write and submit a German opera; Wolfgang called Heufeld a fool for suggesting he write a comic opera. Mozart's father advised him in December 1780 it was impossible to do anything with "Schachtner's drama" because the theaters were closed because of the death of Maria Theresia. For some reason Mozart had trouble with the Singspiel and in 1781 Stephanie the younger gave him a new libretto (Entführung aus dem Serial). Thus Mozart, believing Zaide was "not suitable for Vienna, where people prefer comic pieces", turned to Entführung.

It is unclear how much of Zaide was left not composed. As it stands there are 15 numbers, divided into 2 acts. Some believe the entire 3rd act is missing, such as Einstein who indicated after the Quartet (the last piece composed by Mozart) the action requires more Arias for a blissful solution and a Finale with concluding chorus. Others, like André--believed only a short finale is needed to complete the work. As Croll points out in his NMA Critical Report, it was not certain there was to be a "blissful solution", (thus Mozart's words about Vienna preferring comic pieces).

Mozart's autograph was acquired by J.A. André in 1800. After the sale (which included many other scores) Constanze Mozart appeared to have some doubts on the work's authenticity. She wrote to André the text appeared to be by Mozart or "in a hand deceptively like his". She thought the ending flourishes were "neater and more delicate than anything I have ever seen". Constanze concluded "All the same nobody, not a soul, has heard of it, and both the text and the music are written in a hand that bears a deceptive resemblance to Michael Haydn's, or at least to that of his regular copyist". André assured Constanze the work was indeed that of Mozart. André issued a printing in about 1825, but it apparently was never marketed. In 1831 a piano reduction was issued and in 1838 a new full score was issued (using the old 1825 plates). André gave the untitled German Opera the title "Zaide", and added an Overture and a final chorus. To complete the text André enlisted the Frankfurt musician and theater writer Carl Gollmick.

Dennis Pajot