List of operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

File:Zauberflöte-Theaterzettel1791.jpg

Playbill for the opening performance of Die Zauberflöte, 30 September 1791

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's operas comprise 22 musical dramas in a variety of genres.Template:Efn They range from the small-scale, derivative works of his youth to the full-fledged operas of his maturity. Three of the works were abandoned before completion and were not performed until many years after the composer's death. His mature works are all considered classics and have never been out of the repertory of the world's opera houses.Template:Sfn

From a very young age, Mozart had, according to opera analyst David Cairns, "an extraordinary capacity ... for seizing on and assimilating whatever in a newly encountered style (was) most useful to him".Template:Sfn In a letter to his father, dated 7 February 1778, Mozart wrote, "As you know, I can more or less adopt or imitate any kind and style of composition".Template:Sfn He used this gift to break new ground, becoming simultaneously "assimilator, perfector and innovator".Template:Sfn Thus, his early works follow the traditional forms of the Italian opera seria and opera buffa as well as the German Singspiel. In his maturity, according to music writer Nicholas Kenyon, he "enhanced all of these forms with the richness of his innovation",Template:Sfn and, in Don Giovanni, he achieved a synthesis of the two Italian styles, including a seria character in Donna Anna, buffa characters in Leporello and Zerlina, and a mixed seria-buffa character in Donna Elvira.Template:Sfn Unique among composers, Mozart ended all his mature operas, starting with Idomeneo, in the key of the overture.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Ideas and characterisations introduced in the early works were subsequently developed and refined. For example, Mozart's later operas feature a series of memorable, strongly drawn female characters, in particular the so-called "Viennese soubrettes" who, in opera writer Charles Osborne's phrase, "contrive to combine charm with managerial instinct".Template:Sfn Music writer and analyst Gottfried Kraus has remarked that all these women were present, as prototypes, in the earlier operas; Bastienne (1768), and Sandrina (La finta giardiniera, 1774) are precedents for the later Constanze and Pamina, while Sandrina's foil Serpetta is the forerunner of Blonde, Susanna, Zerlina and Despina.Template:Sfn

Mozart's texts came from a variety of sources, and the early operas were often adaptations of existing works.Template:Efn The first librettist chosen by Mozart himself appears to have been Giambattista Varesco, for Idomeneo in 1781.Template:Sfn Five years later, he began his most enduring collaboration, with Lorenzo Da Ponte, his "true phoenix". The once widely held theory that Da Ponte was the librettist for the discarded Lo sposo deluso of 1783/84 has now been generally rejected.Template:Efn Mozart felt that, as the composer, he should have considerable input into the content of the libretto, so that it would best serve the music. Musicologist Charles Rosen writes, "it is possible that Da Ponte understood the dramatic necessities of Mozart's style without prompting; but before his association with da Ponte, Mozart had already bullied several librettists into giving him the dramatically shaped ensembles he loved."Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

Compiling the list

File:Mozart Portrait Croce.jpg

Detail of Wolfgang from the 1780–81 Portrait of the Mozart Family

Basis for inclusion

The list includes all the theatrical works generally accepted as composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In this context "theatrical" means performed on a stage, by vocalists singing in character, in accordance with stage directions. Some sources have adopted more specific criteria, leading them to exclude the early "Sacred Singspiel" Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots,Template:Efn which they classify as an oratorio.Template:Efn However, as Osborne makes clear, the libretto contains stage directions which suggest that the work was acted, not merely sung, and it is formally described as a "geistliches Singspiel" (sacred play with music), not as an oratorio.Template:Sfn The Singspiel Der Stein der Weisen was written in collaboration with four other composers, so it is only partially credited to Mozart who only contributed one aria.

Sequence

In general, the list follows the sequence in which the operas were written. There is uncertainty about whether La finta semplice was written before or after Bastien und Bastienne, and in some listings the former is given priority.Template:Efn Thamos was written in two segments, the earlier in 1774, but is listed in accordance with its completion in 1779–80. Die Zauberflöte and La clemenza di Tito were written concurrently. Die Zauberflote was started earlier and put aside for the Tito commission,Template:Sfn which was completed and performed first and is usually listed as the earlier work despite having a higher Köchel catalogue number.

List of operas

Key:

1. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline Incomplete opera
2. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline Collaborative work

Operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

PeriodTemplate:Efn	Title	Genre and actsTemplate:Efn	Libretto		Voice partsTemplate:Efn	PremiereTemplate:Efn		Köchel No.Template:Efn
			Lang.	LibrettistTemplate:Efn		Date	Venue
1766–67	, Part 1Template:Efn (The obligation of the first and foremost commandment)	Sacred Singspiel (collaboration)	German	Template:IllTemplate:Efn	3 soprano, 2 tenor	12 March 1767	Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg	K.35 Score Libretto
1767	(Apollo and Hyacinth)	Music for a Latin dramaTemplate:Sfn	Latin	Rufinus Widl, after Ovid's	2 treble, 2 boy alto, 1 tenor, 2 bass, chorusTemplate:Efn	13 May 1767	Great Hall, University of Salzburg	K.38 Score
1768	(Bastien and Bastienne)	Singspiel 1 act	German	F. W. Weiskern and J. H. MullerTemplate:Efn	1 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 bass	2 October 1890.Template:Efn	Architektenhaus, Wilhelmstraße 92, Berlin	K.50/46b Score
1768	(The feigned simpleton)	Opera buffa 3 acts	Italian	Marco Coltellini, after Carlo Goldoni	3 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass	1 May 1769	Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg	K.51/46a Score
1770	(Mithridates, King of Pontus)	Opera seria 3 acts	Italian	Template:Ill, based on G. Parini's translation of Racine's	4 soprano, 1 alto, 2 tenorTemplate:Efn	26 December 1770	Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan	K.87/74a Score
1771	(Ascanius in Alba)	FestspielTemplate:Efn 2 acts	Italian	Giuseppe Parini	4 soprano, 1 tenor, chorusTemplate:Efn	17 October 1771	Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan	K.111 Score
1772	(Scipio's Dream)	Azione teatrale, or Serenata drammatica 1 act	Italian	Metastasio, based on Cicero's	3 soprano, 3 tenor, chorus	1 May 1772 (probably)Template:Efn	Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg	K.126 Score
1772		Dramma per musica 3 acts	Italian	Giovanni de Gamerra, revised by Metastasio	4 soprano, 2 tenor, chorusTemplate:Efn	26 December 1772	Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan	K.135 Score
1774–75	(The pretend garden-maid)	Dramma giocoso 3 actsTemplate:Efn	Italian	Probably Giuseppe PetroselliniTemplate:Efn	4 soprano, 2 tenor, 1 bass, chorusTemplate:Efn	13 January 1775	Template:Ill, Munich	K.196 Score
1775	(The Shepherd King)	Serenata 2 acts	Italian	Metastasio, amended by Varesco, based on Tasso's Template:Sfn	3 soprano, 2 tenorTemplate:Efn	23 April 1775	Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg	K.208 Score
1773, 1779	(Thamos, King of Egypt)	Choruses and entr'actes for a heroic drama	German	Template:Ill	Soprano, alto, tenor, bass (chorus and soloists)	4 April 1774 (two choruses)	Kärntnertor Theatre, Vienna	K.345/336a Score
						1779–80 (complete)	Salzburg
1779–80		Singspiel (incomplete)	German	Johann Andreas Schachtner	1 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass, mini-chorus of 4 tenors, 1 speaking role	27 January 1866Template:Efn	FrankfurtTemplate:Efn	K.344/336b Score
1780–81	(Idomeneus, King of Crete)	Dramma per musica 3 acts	Italian	Varesco, after Antoine Danchet's	3 soprano, 1 mezzo-soprano, 4 tenor, 1 baritone, 2 bass, chorusTemplate:Efn	29 January 1781	Court Theatre (now Cuvilliés Theatre), Munich	K.366 Score
1781–82	(The Abduction from the Seraglio)	Singspiel 3 acts	German	Gottlieb Stephanie, based on C. Bretzner's	2 soprano, 2 tenor, 1 bass, 2 speaking rolesTemplate:Efn	16 July 1782	Burgtheater, Vienna	K.384 Score Libretto
1783	(The goose of Cairo)	Dramma giocoso (incomplete) 3 acts	Italian	Varesco	(Provisional) 4 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass, chorus	6 June 1867Template:Efn	Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes, Paris	K.422 Score
1783–84	(The Deluded Bridegroom)	Opera buffa (incomplete) 2 acts	Italian	Unknown. Once attributed to Da PonteTemplate:Sfn but may have been by Giuseppe Petrosellini.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn	(Provisional) 3 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass	6 June 1867Template:SfnTemplate:Efn	Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes, Paris	K.430/424a Score
1786	(The Impresario)	Comic singspiel 1 act	German	Gottlieb Stephanie	2 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 bass, 6 speaking roles	7 February 1786	Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna	K.486 Score
1785–86	(The Marriage of Figaro)	Opera buffa 4 acts	Italian	Da Ponte, based on Beaumarchais's	5 soprano, 2 tenor, 1 baritone, 3 bass, chorusTemplate:Efn	1 May 1786	Burgtheater, Vienna	K.492 Score Libretto
1787	Template:Efn	Dramma giocoso 2 acts	Italian	Da Ponte, based on Giovanni Bertati's	3 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 baritone, 3 bass, chorus	29 October 1787Template:Efn	Estates Theatre,Template:Efn Prague	K.527 Score Libretto
1789–90	(Women are like that or All women do that)Template:Efn	Dramma giocoso 2 acts	Italian	Da Ponte	3 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 baritone, 1 bass, chorus	26 January 1790	Burgtheater, Vienna	K.588 Score Libretto
1790	(The Philosopher's Stone) (Pasticcio composed with J. B. Henneberg, F. Gerl, B. Schack and E. Schikaneder)	Singspiel (collaboration) 2 acts	German	Emanuel Schikaneder	3 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 baritone, 1 bass, 1 speaking role	11 September 1790	Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna	K.592a (duet "Nun, liebes Weibchen, ziehst mit mir") (Score)
1791	(The clemency of Titus)	Opera seria 2 acts	Italian	Metastasio, revised by Caterino Mazzolà	2 soprano, 2 mezzo-soprano, 1 tenor, 1 bass, chorusTemplate:Efn	6 September 1791	Estates Theatre, Prague	K.621 Score Libretto
1791	(The Magic Flute)	Singspiel 2 acts	German	Emanuel Schikaneder	6 soprano, 2 mezzo-soprano, 1 alto, 4 tenor, 1 baritone, 4 bass, chorus	30 September 1791	Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna	K.620 Score Libretto

Notes and references

Sources

• Template:Ill (editor) (2000). Opera: Composers, Works, Performers (English ed.). Cologne: Könemann. Template:ISBN

External links

• Opera libretti, critical editions, diplomatic editions, source evaluation (German only), links to online DME recordings; Digital Mozart Edition