Mozart's one-act opera Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) was written to be performed as half of a double bill that included Salieri's Prima la musica, e poi le parole (First the music, and then the words) in 1786. Both operas deal with the clash of artistic temperaments as impediments to the production of an opera. In Der Schauspieldirektor, the problem is resolved when the impresario designates each of the two rival sopranos as a leading lady. Brilliant's performance of Der Schauspieldirektor is complete and includes ...
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Mozart's one-act opera Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) was written to be performed as half of a double bill that included Salieri's Prima la musica, e poi le parole (First the music, and then the words) in 1786. Both operas deal with the clash of artistic temperaments as impediments to the production of an opera. In Der Schauspieldirektor, the problem is resolved when the impresario designates each of the two rival sopranos as a leading lady. Brilliant's performance of Der Schauspieldirektor is complete and includes all the spoken dialogue. Less than a third of if its 75 minutes is devoted to music, and four of the five musical numbers fall at the end of the opera. There are two casts, one of which performs the spoken dialogue and one of which sings -- apparently the producers didn't think that the singers could pull off the comedy in the extended sections of spoken dialogue. As it is, the spoken sections sound more like readings for a radio play with lots of broad mugging than a convincing...
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