Mozart's
for reduced orchestra
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
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Commissioned by Waterprerry Opera Festival and first performed at the festival on 12th Aug 2022 directed by Isabelle Kettle with Music Direction by Bertie Baigent .
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Duration
SINFONIA – 4mins
ACT I – 36mins
ACT II – 46mins
ACT III – 40mins
ACT IV – 40mins
Total: c.3 hours
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Roles
COUNT ALMAVIVA baritone
COUNTESS ROSINA ALMAVIVA soprano
SUSANNA the Countess's maid soprano
FIGARO personal valet to the count bass
CHERUBINO the Count's page soprano
MARCELLINA Don Bartolo's housekeeper soprano
BARTOLO doctor from Seville, also a practicing lawyer bass
BARSILIO music teacher tenor
DON CURZIO judge tenor
BARBARINA Antonio's daughter, Susanna's cousin soprano
ANTONIO the Count's gardener, Susanna's uncle bass
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Chorus
Scoring
1,1,1,1. | 1,0,0,0. | 0. | cont. | strings
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Notes on Score
This reduction condenses Mozart’s original chamber orchestra scoring to wind quintet, continuo, and strings (without divisi). The ambition has been to create an edition that looks and sounds as close to Mozart’s original as possible, with particular care to maintain instrumental colour instead of employing the winds continually to play the lines of missing parts. That said, there are moments for melodic and harmonic completeness, which require the clarinet to play the role of the 2nd oboe or the horn to play bassoon lines. In relation to the latter, this explains the necessity for engaging a modern rather than a natural horn, which would have made for significant timbral changes in some of the chromatic lines and register shifts.
Despite the reduction in scoring, the utmost care and attention has been taken to study Mozart’s original manuscripts and related scholarship. Therefore, this edition can be justifiably described as “urtext”. Notably, the ambiguities and inconsistencies present in Mozart’s original have purposely been carried forward to enable performers to make their own decisions on how to interpret the notation. It is important to note however, that some historic editorial practices have been modernised for the ease of the today’s musicians, e.g. hairpins in place of crescendo markings, key signatures for the horn player, the placement and italicisation of technical and expressive text, amongst other minor alterations.
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Availability
This work is available to hire. Please get in touch to find out more. The full score is currently only available with the original Italian, however different editions with alternative translations can be requested.
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Perusal Score
Available by request only.
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Performance History
12th Aug 2022 - Waterperry Opera Festival, Oxfordshire
13th Aug 2022 - Waterperry Opera Festival, Oxfordshire
16th Aug 2022 - Waterperry Opera Festival, Oxfordshire
18th Aug 2022 - Waterperry Opera Festival, Oxfordshire
20th Aug 2022 - Waterperry Opera Festival, Oxfordshire
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