Dramma per mu­sica in three acts K. 366 (1780/81)
Lib­retto: Gi­am­battista Varesco

Writ­ten for the court of Mu­nich in 1780/81, "Ido­me­neo" is of­ten re­garded as the first of the sev­en un­dis­puted mas­ter­works in Moz­art’s dra­mat­ic oeuvre. Nev­er be­fore had he cast such bold, im­pas­sioned mu­sic in­to a dra­mat­ic form or de­vised such a well-cal­ib­rated dram­at­urgy. Was it the plot that drove Moz­art to such ex­tremes of ex­press­ive power? The story evokes count­less of the rop­era ser­ia ob­jects: King Ido­me­neo has prom­ised to sac­ri­fice to Nep­tune the first per­son he meets if he is saved from ship­wreck; this turns out to be his son Idam­ante, who stands between two wo­men, the Tro­jan Prin­cess Ilia whom he loves, and the Greek prin­cess Elettra who loves him. Four people on the edge of the abyss, drawn to­geth­er by pas­sion torn apart by reas­ons of state.

Though re­spect­ing the ten­ets of op­era ser­ia, Moz­art re­peatedly burst out of the ri­gid cor­set of the genre. Arias are heightened by un­ex­pec­ted twists and turns, ac­com­pag­nato re­cit­at­ives reach un­heard-of levels of jagged emo­tion­al raw­ness, and ste­reo­typed set pieces such as the ven­geance be­come en­tire scenes in them­selves. Moz­art also treats the in­stru­ments in a far more lib­er­al and imag- in­at­ive man­ner than ever be­fore, blend­ing the voices with solo in­stru­ments and cre­at­ing new tone col­ors that pre­fig­ure the Ro­mantic era.

Ramón Var­gas, Ido­me­neo
Mag­dalena Kožená, Idam­ante
Eka­ter­ina Si­ur­ina, Ilia
Anja Harter­os, Elettra
Jef­frey Fran­cis, Ar­bace

Cam­erata Salzburg
Salzbur­ger Bach­chor

Sir Ro­ger Nor­ring­ton, con­duct­or
Ursel and Karl-Ernst Her­rmann, stage dir­ect­or
Thomas Grimm, video dir­ect­or

Re­cord­ing dates: 20.08.| 24.08.| 27.08.2006
Ven­ue: House for Moz­art