IDOMENEO
Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece was Idomeneo, re di Creta (“Idomeneus, King of Crete”), an opera seria composed in 1780, first produced in Munich in 1781 and extensively revised five years later for performance in Vienna. By then, having quarreled over terms with the Archbishop of Salzburg and having requested and ungraciously received release from his position (“with a kick in the ass,” he wrote to his horrified father), Mozart, with a wife and eventually a child to support, was living in the capital as a “free lance” musician, accepting commissions and giving “academies,” or self-promoted concert appearances. Although he had craved the freedom to compose as he saw fit, the precariousness of his livelihood (exacerbated by gambling debts) and the attendant stress and overwork undoubtedly contributed to his early death, adding another leaf to the legend of his life—a legend that maintains, romantically but erroneously, that he died a pauper.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 9 Enlightenment and Reform." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2025. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-09006.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 9 Enlightenment and Reform. In Oxford University Press, Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries. New York, USA. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-09006.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 9 Enlightenment and Reform." In Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 27 Apr. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-09006.xml
