FULL ZAIDE oder Der Weg des Lichts (Mozart) Salzburg 2025 Sabine Devieilhe, Lea Desandre, Julian Prégardien, Daniel Behle

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: ZAIDE oder Der Weg des Lichts  
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  
• Libretto: various    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, Austria, Salzburger Festspiele  
• Recorded: August 22, 2025
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Sabine Devieilhe, Lea Desandre, Julian Prégardien, Daniel Behle, Johannes Martin Kränzle
• Conductor: Raphaël Pichon Concept and Musical Direction Bertrand Couderc Lighting and Costumes Eddy Garaudel Dramaturgy Choreography   
• Orchestra: Pygmalion Orchestra  
• Chorus: Pygmalion Choir  
• Choreographer: Evelin Facchini  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer: Bertrand Couderc  
• Lighting Designer: Bertrand Couderc  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: ARTE  
• Date Published: 2025  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, desubs, frsubs  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

An evening with excerpts from
ZAIDE
Singspiel in two acts KV 344 (fragment, created 1779/80)
DAVIDE PENITENTE
Cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra K. 469 (1785)
THAMOS, KING OF EGYPT
Incidental music for the heroic drama by Tobias Philipp von Gebler KV 345 (1773/1780)
and other works from the period 1779—1785
Work on Zaide in 1780 marked a decisive turning point in Mozart’s career. The unfinished Singspiel—a spontaneous composition for the Viennese court of the “enlightened despot” Joseph II—gained its radiance from its humanistic themes. For the first time, Mozart created a musical and dramatic resonance for what he believed was good and right: for the fight against tyranny, for the power of true love, and above all, for the indispensable pursuit of freedom. Zaide uses a clichéd “rescue plot” and the turquerias typical of the Rococo era as starting points, but transcends them through the psychological depth of its characterization and the extraordinary musical-dramatic intensity.

After Mozart left Salzburg for the first time in 1777, radical changes occurred in his life: He had a groundbreaking encounter with Haydn, who became his friend, and Mozart became acquainted with Munich and the Mannheim Orchestra. Added to this were his unhappy love affair with Aloysia Weber, a disappointing stay in Paris, and the tragic death of his mother. Mozart returned to his birthplace and, with a heavy heart, once again entered the service of Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. But he had changed profoundly as a person. The great vocal works he now composed are permeated by the spirit of the Enlightenment and by the philosophical and aesthetic currents that were then stirring Europe. Zaide marked the beginning of this new aesthetic, which refused any concession to gallant taste and instead explored the truth of the human soul. The fact that Mozart gradually freed himself from all tutelage — he left Colloredo, Salzburg, his father — and subsequently produced dramatic and sacred masterpieces such as Idomeneo (1780-1781), The Abduction from the Seraglio (1781-1782), and the Great Mass in C minor (1782-1783) is directly and unmistakably connected.

What causes us to change? What makes us better people? These questions preoccupied Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. Mozart, who was soon admitted to the Viennese Masonic lodge “Zur Wohltätigkeit” (For Charity), made these questions his own by creating a vision of humanity in his works that—without ever leaving all doubt behind—helps love and forgiveness triumph.

In Libertà! Mozart & l’Opéra (2019), Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon embarked on an exploratory journey into the musical and dramaturgical laboratory that ultimately gave rise to the great masterpieces of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy. In their new production for the Salzburg Festival, they devote themselves to two rarely performed works, Zaide and the cantata Davide penitente (based on the Mass in C minor), and combine them with other treasures from Mozart’s oeuvre to create a humanistic fresco in which the individual and the community enter into dialogue, and the struggle between shadow and light is re-enacted at every moment.

Eddy Garaudel

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