Mozart wrote Mitridate, rč di Ponto, his first commissioned opera, for production in Milan when he was 14. Historically the opera was ignored, considered part of Mozart's juvenilia, but by the late twentieth century interest in the work revived; its number of productions has increased dramatically and it has come to be regarded as the first of the composer's operatic masterpieces. Many of the elements of Mozart's mature operas are in place in Mitridate: astute musical characterizations, a sure sense of dramatic pacing, and ...
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Mozart wrote Mitridate, rč di Ponto, his first commissioned opera, for production in Milan when he was 14. Historically the opera was ignored, considered part of Mozart's juvenilia, but by the late twentieth century interest in the work revived; its number of productions has increased dramatically and it has come to be regarded as the first of the composer's operatic masterpieces. Many of the elements of Mozart's mature operas are in place in Mitridate: astute musical characterizations, a sure sense of dramatic pacing, and graceful vocal writing. Only the outside-the-box inventiveness that makes his later operas so striking is missing. Even so, Mitridate is a fully satisfying opera seria and certainly deserves the belated attention it has been receiving. Sifare's second-act aria with horn obbligato, "Lungi da te, mio bene," easily stands with Mozart's very finest work.This recording preserves a live performance of the opera from a production at the 1997 Salzburg Festival conducted by Roger Norrington,...
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