Une clémence inattendue : La thématique du pardon dans die Entführung aus dem Serail de Stephanie et Mozart

Abstract

This paper brings to light the essential role played by the theme of forgiveness in Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (Singspiel created in Vienna in 1782). Several authors have already noted the recurrence of this theme in Mozart's operas, but nobody has yet done a systematical study of it. The one proposed here combines literary and musical analysis, confronting the presentation of the theme of forgiveness in the libretto and general structure of Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail to the two contemporary operas on which it was modelled, Bretzner's Belmont und Constance oder Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (Berlin 1781) and Gluck's La Rencontre imprevue ou Les Pelerins de La Mecque (Vienna 1764). It emerges from this study that Mozart's Singspiel is the only one attaching to forgiveness a central dramatic role. This is confirmed by a musical analysis of excerpts from Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, that shows how Mozart musically underlines the passages in which forgiveness plays an important role. Reflecting on the conventions of seria and buffa opera, the conclusion is a first attempt to trace the sources of the peculiar development of this theme in Mozart's Oeuvre.