MOZART, W.A.: Apollo et Hyacinthus (Salzburg Festival, 2006)
Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38
Composer: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Librettist/Text Author: Widl, Rufinus
Conductor: Wallnig, Josef
Orchestra: Salzburg Mozarteum University Symphony Orchestra
Apollo: Schlosser, Anja
Hyacinthus: Tretjakova, Jekaterina
Melia: Karg, Christiane
Oebalus: Kiener, Maximilian
Priest: Steidl, Norbert
Zephyrus: Hofer, Astrid Monika
Set Designer: Balthes, Heinz
Costume Designer: Vazquez, Jose Manuel
Stage Director: Dew, John
Television Director: Weiss, Christian Kurt
Date of Production: 2006
Festival: Salzburg Festival
Venue: Grosser Saal, Mozarteum, Salzburg
Playing Time: 01:14:00
Catalogue Number: A04001461
Mozart was eleven years old when he wrote Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38 and Die Schuldigkeit desersten Gebots (The Obligation to Observe the First Commandment), K. 35 in 1767. Their brevity and contemporaneity made it seem fitting to entrust them to one director for their stage interpretations within the Mozart 22 project. John Dew, known and admired for his rediscoveries of long-neglected works and his highly imaginative productions, has created a semi-ironic framework that ideally suits the two little pieces. They are given a graceful musical accompaniment by the Symphony Orchestra of the Mozarteum University.
Apollo et Hyacinthus is Mozart's very first operatic venture and was commissioned soon after the successful performance of Schuldigkeit. "Apollo" is a Latin intermezzo that was intended as an insert between the prologue and the five-act school drama "Clementia Croesi." Curiously, it already contains many of the themes that would recur in Mozart's later operas: disguise, intrigue, transformation, self-discovery. The plot concerns Zephyrus' love for Melia, who is about to marry Apollo. In his jealousy, Zephyrus gravely wounds Hyacinthus with a discus and, to have Apollo banished, accuses Apollo of murder. Apollo, who saw Zephyrus throw the discus, turns the true culprit into a wind. The dying Hyacinthus reveals the truth and Apollo consoles the mourning family by changing their son into a flower.
