Mon Maquis
11-08-2009, 07:25 PM
For those of you who want to learn more about Melissa Mars playing (Aloysia Weber) "Mozart l'Opéra Rock" and what it is about, see below:
PROLOGUE
Seventeen year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, child prodigy who dazzled Europe’s greatest courts, master of the harpsichord and violin by age five, composer of his first concerto by age six and first opera by age eleven, is returning to Salzburg from Italy where he has been travelling with his father, Leopold. Bad news awaits them: the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, protector of the Mozart family, has died and Hieronymus Colloredo will succeedhim. A tyrannical man who demands total obedience from his subjects, Colloredo is unlikely to put up with the whims of the irreverent young Mozart.
ACT I
The scene begins with the coronation of Colloredo as Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Relations between Colloredo and Mozart quickly disintegrate. Colloredo imposes writing constraints on Mozart. His father reminds him that Colloredo is their employer and that their family cannot survive without his support.
Tension mounts as Colloredo denies Leopold the position of official court composer. Colloredo orders the closing of the Prince’s Theatre in Salzburg. Mozart, heart set on composing opera, sees his hope vanish and wants to leave Salzburg to again travel Europe with his father. But Colloredo refuses, preventing Leopold from leaving and threatening Mozart with dismissal. Mozart turns in his resignation and sets off with his mother.
Travelling through Germany, Mozart is unable to find work. His final hope is in Mannheim where Prince Palatine Carl Theodore, an aesthete who loves music, ultimately decides to refuse Mozart’s services. Desperate, Mozart and his mother go to Paris, where, as the child prodigy, he had received ecstatic reception. Just before departing, Mozart gets a job offer for a short engagement accompanying a singer named Aloysia Weber. An ambitious, calculating and breathtakingly beautiful young woman, she quickly sees she can use Mozart’s immense talent for her personal gain. Blinded by her beauty, he announces to his father his intention to marry Aloysia. Leopold’s orders his son to give up the idea of marriage and devote himself solely to his own career by going immediately to Paris. But Alyosia stays in Mozart’s thoughts, and he dreams of reconnecting with her.
In Paris, Mozart finds he has fallen decidedly out of fashion. Baron Grimm, his former patron, fuels his hopes without ever intervening in his favour. He can’t find work and his financial situation becomes critical. His plans for leaving are interrupted by the sudden illness and death of his mother.
Mozart spends the last of his money on his mother’s funeral then leaves Paris to pursue Aloysia. But his disappointment is as great as his love: A glacial Aloysia informs him that she loves another man whose future seems more promising.
Constanze, Aloysia’s younger sister, yearns to throw herself into his arms and comfort him a bit, but heart-broken Mozart pays her no attention. At Leopold’s urging, Colloredo agrees to take Mozart back into his service. Mozart is ordered to return to Salzburg immediately. Demoralised, Mozart rails against destiny, which has just killed, in turn, his mother, his love and his dream. Will he be in the service of a tyrant forever?
Mozart is reinstated at the Salzburg court. Leopold, suffering from the death of his wife, accuses Mozart of being the cause. Mozart seeks in vain the recognition in his father’s eyes that has motivated him throughout his life. Now more than ever, he seeks refuge and escape in music. Melodies come from elsewhere and impose themselves on him naturally and spontaneously. Colloredo treats him like a servant. The death of Empress Maria Theresa changes the course of his fate. Like all Austrian sovereigns, Colloredo must go to Vienna to present his condolences and congratulations to Joseph II, the Empress’s successor. He moves to his Vienna residence with baggage, servants and Mozart in tow. The trip provides the needed glimmer of hope for Mozart. Vienna, a vibrant city of taste and the capital of music, is home to the finest composers.
ACT II
Mozart’s hopes are short-lived. Colloredo forbids him to give concerts in anyone’s home but his own. Mozart becomes increasingly insolent and provocative, and their relationship deteriorates until the day Colloredo calls Mozart a thug and a cretin in public. This is the last straw and Mozart wants to quit, but his father is fiercely opposed. Leopold argues that by clashing with Colloredo, Mozart will lose security and provoke the wrath of other sovereigns including the Emperor: if his son resigns, Colloredo will fire Leopold, and his family will find itself totally destitute. Mozart interprets his father’s response as cowardice and servility and loses much of the esteem he once had for him. He resigns and finds himself free at last.
Mozart is thrilled with his liberation. His new life begins in Vienna, where he finds lodging at Frau Weber’s, the mother of the woman he loved so much. Aloysia has left the family home to live with her husband, and Mozart discovers the serenity of a new family with Frau Weber and her three daughters. At last he notices Constanze who is happy to finally exist in the eyes of the man she has secretly loved for years. A relationship soon develops between these two who have much in common: insouciance, flightiness and immaturity.
The composer’s reputation eventually makes its way to the ears of Joseph II. The Emperor commissions Mozart to write an opera in German, The Abduction from the Seraglio, to the great vexation of the official court composer, Salieri. Despite numerous obstacles raised by Salieri, the first performance is a huge success. At long last, Mozart achieves recognition.
Constanze and Mozart encounter fierce opposition from their parents. For Leopold, the Webers are schemers and their relationship risks hindering Mozart’s rise. On the other hand, Frau Weber is concerned that the young seducer with the flighty reputation is courting another of her daughters.
Mozart is forced to leave the Weber house but continues to see Constanze on the side thanks to the complicity of Baroness Waldstatten who has taken Constanze in to help the couple. Frau Weber discovers the trickery and threatens to bring in the police. Mozart is left with one solution: a marriage commitment.
But Leopold remains fiercely opposed, and Mozart realizes he has not truly gained his freedom at all. In an act of defiance and total emancipation, Mozart weds Constanze without his father’s approval.
The couple moves into a luxurious flat and leads an extravagant life. The rent is beyond their means, and Constanze, thoughtless, frivolous and as immature as her husband, is a spendthrift who turns out to be incapable of running a household. Alerted by friends, Leopold goes to Vienna to see his son and consequently becomes aware of his achievements. Wolfgang’s concerts are popular successes, and the greatest musicians praise his talent.
But Leopold also witnesses the couple’s dissolute lifestyle. He continually clashes and criticizes Constanze and feels excluded from his son’s new life. Leopold experiences a profound realization: he who was instructor, guide and mentor sees that his son no longer belongs to him. Mozart’s success will never be his.
Mozart then experiences a prosperous period marked by success. He continues to lead a carefree life made up of work combined with parties at his wife’s side. He writes little to his father and his letters are brief and lacking in affection. As he is beginning the composition of the opera Don Giovanni, his father falls ill. Mozart suddenly wakes up to his father’s possible death and struggles with the guilt of being free and an innate desire for his father’s approval.
Wracked by suffering and remorse following Leopold’s death, Mozart works furiously, writing an average of one new work every 2 weeks. He has changed: his previous frivolity and insouciance have given way to seriousness and maturity. His compositions have evolved profoundly. But the Viennese public spurns his latest work, Don Giovanni, confused by its originality and daring.
Mozart becomes less popular and begins to annoy. Salieri, despite being Mozart’s greatest admirer, takes advantage of this reversal, intensifying his conspiracy against him. Destiny dogs him with the death of his patron, Joseph II, whose successor, Leopold II, proves to be much less sensitive to music and to Mozart personally.
Mozart’s financial difficulties get worse. He flees reality by giving himself body and soul to the composition of his new opera, The Magic Flute. But despite the triumph of his final opera, La clemenza di Tito, in Prague, the Viennese continue to turn up their noses at Mozart.
Living in a state of total ruin, he ends up falling ill.
A man dressed in black comes to see Mozart to commission a Requiem. The visitor, who refuses to give his name, unconditionally accepts the price set by the composer. Mozart is terrified by the appearance of this man and fears this Requiem will celebrate his own funeral. Sick and depressed, Mozart sees the stranger in black as an apparition of his father, a message from Heaven announcing his imminent death. He is racing against the clock to finish the Requiem before death comes for him. But death works faster, and the Requiem remains unfinished.
PROLOGUE
Seventeen year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, child prodigy who dazzled Europe’s greatest courts, master of the harpsichord and violin by age five, composer of his first concerto by age six and first opera by age eleven, is returning to Salzburg from Italy where he has been travelling with his father, Leopold. Bad news awaits them: the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, protector of the Mozart family, has died and Hieronymus Colloredo will succeedhim. A tyrannical man who demands total obedience from his subjects, Colloredo is unlikely to put up with the whims of the irreverent young Mozart.
ACT I
The scene begins with the coronation of Colloredo as Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Relations between Colloredo and Mozart quickly disintegrate. Colloredo imposes writing constraints on Mozart. His father reminds him that Colloredo is their employer and that their family cannot survive without his support.
Tension mounts as Colloredo denies Leopold the position of official court composer. Colloredo orders the closing of the Prince’s Theatre in Salzburg. Mozart, heart set on composing opera, sees his hope vanish and wants to leave Salzburg to again travel Europe with his father. But Colloredo refuses, preventing Leopold from leaving and threatening Mozart with dismissal. Mozart turns in his resignation and sets off with his mother.
Travelling through Germany, Mozart is unable to find work. His final hope is in Mannheim where Prince Palatine Carl Theodore, an aesthete who loves music, ultimately decides to refuse Mozart’s services. Desperate, Mozart and his mother go to Paris, where, as the child prodigy, he had received ecstatic reception. Just before departing, Mozart gets a job offer for a short engagement accompanying a singer named Aloysia Weber. An ambitious, calculating and breathtakingly beautiful young woman, she quickly sees she can use Mozart’s immense talent for her personal gain. Blinded by her beauty, he announces to his father his intention to marry Aloysia. Leopold’s orders his son to give up the idea of marriage and devote himself solely to his own career by going immediately to Paris. But Alyosia stays in Mozart’s thoughts, and he dreams of reconnecting with her.
In Paris, Mozart finds he has fallen decidedly out of fashion. Baron Grimm, his former patron, fuels his hopes without ever intervening in his favour. He can’t find work and his financial situation becomes critical. His plans for leaving are interrupted by the sudden illness and death of his mother.
Mozart spends the last of his money on his mother’s funeral then leaves Paris to pursue Aloysia. But his disappointment is as great as his love: A glacial Aloysia informs him that she loves another man whose future seems more promising.
Constanze, Aloysia’s younger sister, yearns to throw herself into his arms and comfort him a bit, but heart-broken Mozart pays her no attention. At Leopold’s urging, Colloredo agrees to take Mozart back into his service. Mozart is ordered to return to Salzburg immediately. Demoralised, Mozart rails against destiny, which has just killed, in turn, his mother, his love and his dream. Will he be in the service of a tyrant forever?
Mozart is reinstated at the Salzburg court. Leopold, suffering from the death of his wife, accuses Mozart of being the cause. Mozart seeks in vain the recognition in his father’s eyes that has motivated him throughout his life. Now more than ever, he seeks refuge and escape in music. Melodies come from elsewhere and impose themselves on him naturally and spontaneously. Colloredo treats him like a servant. The death of Empress Maria Theresa changes the course of his fate. Like all Austrian sovereigns, Colloredo must go to Vienna to present his condolences and congratulations to Joseph II, the Empress’s successor. He moves to his Vienna residence with baggage, servants and Mozart in tow. The trip provides the needed glimmer of hope for Mozart. Vienna, a vibrant city of taste and the capital of music, is home to the finest composers.
ACT II
Mozart’s hopes are short-lived. Colloredo forbids him to give concerts in anyone’s home but his own. Mozart becomes increasingly insolent and provocative, and their relationship deteriorates until the day Colloredo calls Mozart a thug and a cretin in public. This is the last straw and Mozart wants to quit, but his father is fiercely opposed. Leopold argues that by clashing with Colloredo, Mozart will lose security and provoke the wrath of other sovereigns including the Emperor: if his son resigns, Colloredo will fire Leopold, and his family will find itself totally destitute. Mozart interprets his father’s response as cowardice and servility and loses much of the esteem he once had for him. He resigns and finds himself free at last.
Mozart is thrilled with his liberation. His new life begins in Vienna, where he finds lodging at Frau Weber’s, the mother of the woman he loved so much. Aloysia has left the family home to live with her husband, and Mozart discovers the serenity of a new family with Frau Weber and her three daughters. At last he notices Constanze who is happy to finally exist in the eyes of the man she has secretly loved for years. A relationship soon develops between these two who have much in common: insouciance, flightiness and immaturity.
The composer’s reputation eventually makes its way to the ears of Joseph II. The Emperor commissions Mozart to write an opera in German, The Abduction from the Seraglio, to the great vexation of the official court composer, Salieri. Despite numerous obstacles raised by Salieri, the first performance is a huge success. At long last, Mozart achieves recognition.
Constanze and Mozart encounter fierce opposition from their parents. For Leopold, the Webers are schemers and their relationship risks hindering Mozart’s rise. On the other hand, Frau Weber is concerned that the young seducer with the flighty reputation is courting another of her daughters.
Mozart is forced to leave the Weber house but continues to see Constanze on the side thanks to the complicity of Baroness Waldstatten who has taken Constanze in to help the couple. Frau Weber discovers the trickery and threatens to bring in the police. Mozart is left with one solution: a marriage commitment.
But Leopold remains fiercely opposed, and Mozart realizes he has not truly gained his freedom at all. In an act of defiance and total emancipation, Mozart weds Constanze without his father’s approval.
The couple moves into a luxurious flat and leads an extravagant life. The rent is beyond their means, and Constanze, thoughtless, frivolous and as immature as her husband, is a spendthrift who turns out to be incapable of running a household. Alerted by friends, Leopold goes to Vienna to see his son and consequently becomes aware of his achievements. Wolfgang’s concerts are popular successes, and the greatest musicians praise his talent.
But Leopold also witnesses the couple’s dissolute lifestyle. He continually clashes and criticizes Constanze and feels excluded from his son’s new life. Leopold experiences a profound realization: he who was instructor, guide and mentor sees that his son no longer belongs to him. Mozart’s success will never be his.
Mozart then experiences a prosperous period marked by success. He continues to lead a carefree life made up of work combined with parties at his wife’s side. He writes little to his father and his letters are brief and lacking in affection. As he is beginning the composition of the opera Don Giovanni, his father falls ill. Mozart suddenly wakes up to his father’s possible death and struggles with the guilt of being free and an innate desire for his father’s approval.
Wracked by suffering and remorse following Leopold’s death, Mozart works furiously, writing an average of one new work every 2 weeks. He has changed: his previous frivolity and insouciance have given way to seriousness and maturity. His compositions have evolved profoundly. But the Viennese public spurns his latest work, Don Giovanni, confused by its originality and daring.
Mozart becomes less popular and begins to annoy. Salieri, despite being Mozart’s greatest admirer, takes advantage of this reversal, intensifying his conspiracy against him. Destiny dogs him with the death of his patron, Joseph II, whose successor, Leopold II, proves to be much less sensitive to music and to Mozart personally.
Mozart’s financial difficulties get worse. He flees reality by giving himself body and soul to the composition of his new opera, The Magic Flute. But despite the triumph of his final opera, La clemenza di Tito, in Prague, the Viennese continue to turn up their noses at Mozart.
Living in a state of total ruin, he ends up falling ill.
A man dressed in black comes to see Mozart to commission a Requiem. The visitor, who refuses to give his name, unconditionally accepts the price set by the composer. Mozart is terrified by the appearance of this man and fears this Requiem will celebrate his own funeral. Sick and depressed, Mozart sees the stranger in black as an apparition of his father, a message from Heaven announcing his imminent death. He is racing against the clock to finish the Requiem before death comes for him. But death works faster, and the Requiem remains unfinished.