Mozart Opera Quiz on QuizRevolution

During the last year of his life, 1791, Mozart was in failing health and desperate for money. In addition to composing the Requiem, which he never completed, he wrote the Magic Flute for a local theater manager named Emanuel Schikanader, and the opera seria La Clemenza di Tito which he composed for the National Theater in Prague as part of the coronation festivities for Leopold II.

Harmoniemusik, or wind band arrangements of Mozart operas were the rage and were a way for the opera’s best melodies to be popularized. Many of Mozart’s operas were arranged for wind band with other composers reaping the profits. (See MHS #5455369 with the Amadeus Ensemble and Julius Rudel.) Mozart, never one to miss an opportunity, arranged Figaro’s Act I aria for wind band and inserted it into the last act of Don Giovanni.

In Act 3, after Figaro loses the court case in which the ruling is “either marry her or pay her,” he claims he cannot marry without his parents’ permission. The Count asks, “Then where are these parents,” and Figaro admits he doesn’t know. Then, in one of the great and funny recognition scenes, it is revealed that Marcellina and Dr. Bartolo are actually his parents.

Hummel, though a student of Mozart’s and a celebrated pianist, was still studying in 1795. Mozart’s sister, though reported to be a marvelous pianist had long stopped playing by 1795, and Schubert, who would become one of the era’s great composers for the piano, wasn’t born until 1797. It was the 24-year-old Beethoven, whose talent had captured Vienna after Mozart’s death, who was the soloist on that March night in 1795 during the intermission of La Clemenza di Tito. One can only wonder how hard it was to get a ticket to that show!

While the three ladies, the magic flute and the magic bells all play roles in getting the heroes to the heroine, it is the Three Young Boys, more like spirits actually, who are tasked with interceding whenever someone is in trouble.