Aged 18, Mozart wrote his comedy La finta giardiniera for Munich in 1775. After the premiere of La finta giardiniera, Mozart wrote home to his mother: “My opera turned out so well that it is impossible for me to describe… After every aria there was the most frightening clamour, with clapping and shouts of Viva Maestro!”.
He was not really able to capitalise on this success. This was the period when Mozart’s wish to write operas was stymied by the fact that his employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg, wanted Mozart on hand, in his employ, whilst the court theatre in Salzburg had closed. Mozart would return to Munich, but not until 1781 for Idomeneo, his first mature opera.
The author of the work’s libretto is still uncertain, and in 1790 Mozart would return to the piece and convert it into a German singspiel as Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe, adding some new music.
Despite being a sparking comedy, it remains one of Mozart’s lesser-known gems. Perhaps because until a copy of the complete Italian version was found in the 1970s, the German translation was the only known complete score.
Ian Page and the Mozartists have never performed the opera and so they are giving a concert performance on Tuesday 25 March 2025 at Cadogan Hall, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its premiere.
The cast is headed by the two most recent additions to The Mozartists’ impressive rostrum of Associate Artists – soprano Ava Dodd [whom we recently saw as Barbarina in ENO’s The Marriage of Figaro, see my review] and tenor Hugo Brady; this concert will mark The Mozartists first designated Young Artist opera since before the pandemic. The remaining cast members, all making their debuts with The Mozartists, are Camilla Harris, Milly Forrest, Laura Fleur, Michael Bell and Jerome Knox.
Full details from The Mozartists’ website.
