NPR World of Opera
The Abduction from the Seraglio, by W. A. Mozart

There have always been stories about "damsels in distress." They go back to the Orpheus legend, and beyond, and often they're pretty serious. In Orpheus, the damsel is rescued from hell, itself. But today, the words "damsel in distress" generally bring to mind those mad-cap, Snydely Whiplash-type stories.

You know, where the pretty young woman with blond ringlets is tied to the railroad tracks or to the conyevor belt at the lumber yard, about to be crushed or sawed in two, until the dashing young hero saves her at the last possible moment and she falls gratefully into his arms.

Of course, even those relatively new, silent-movie stories are "old-fashioned," right? At least they are by today's standards. And surely they're "politically incorrect." The girl is always totally helpless in the face of evil, and relies on a fearless young man to save her from certain doom. The thing is, these "modern day" damsels-in-distress are also old-fashioned compared to this week's opera -- pretty remarkable, considering the drama was written in 1782.

The opera is sort of a "madcap comedy." But this damsel is far from helpless. She's got her evil captor begging her for favors, and when her "hero" comes to save her, she won't even consider being rescued until she's sure he's got the right attitude. Considering the progressive nature of the story, it's hardly surprising that the piece is by Mozart, one of opera's great innovators. It's The Abduction from the Seraglio, and this week on WORLD OF OPERA, we'll hear it as produced by Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York.

By the way, this production is sung in English - which happens to be quite appropriate. Remember the scene in Milos Foreman's film, Amadeus, when the Emperor commissions Mozart to write The Abduction …? There's an argument over whether the new work should be in Italian, the "proper" language for opera, or in German. The Emperor in the movie, in fact, had been promoting theater in German. After all, that's the language his people spoke - the vernacular. Ultimately Abduction was written in German, so it's fitting that we'll be hearing the opera this week in English - our own vernacular.

Join host Steve Curwood on WORLD OF OPERA, for Glimmerglass Opera's production of The Abduction from the Seraglio. To learn more about the piece, tune in AT THE OPERA with Lou Santacroce half-an-hour before curtain time.

LINKS:

Glimmerglass Opera
Libretto of the opera, in German
NPR's At the Opera

COMING UP NEXT WEEK: An encore broadcast of La sonnambula, by Vincenzo Bellini