Idomeneo (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) – Premiere

The title refers to an exalted ruler in history: Idomeneus, King of Crete at the time of the Trojan War. Mozart himself considered “Idomeneo” to be one of his best operas. In it, he questions the powerful and opens a tragic and fateful story with a gripping overture: together with the Greeks, Idomeneo brought Troy to its knees in a war that lasted for years. The pledge of his victory are Trojan prisoners, including the Trojan princess Ilia. In this play about love, domination and politics, the past is set against the present and passion and justice become symbols of a utopian future. In 1780/81, Mozart embarked on a dramatic experiment in which he and librettist Varesco had to wrestle not just for words, but literally for syllables. He develops a dramatic web of various love interests and claims to power, and the emotions also make waves musically. Mozart composes a catastrophic tone for the confusion, the lack of direction of a mass of people gripped by terror. And above all this hovers a cruel curse from the gods: Idomeneo promises them the sacrifice of the first person he meets in return for his rescue from distress at sea.

It is his own son. From August 25, 2024 on the stage of the Lucerne Theater.