»Zaide« von W.A. Mozart

From today’s perspective, Mozart’s unfinished Singspiel seems like a preliminary study for his *The Abduction from the Seraglio*, composed two years later : Zaide and Gomatz meet while held captive by Soliman and fall in love. A joint attempt to escape fails. Will Soliman pardon them or punish them?

*Zaide* was composed during a period that would prove to be a turning point for the composer himself: Mozart, in fact, regarded those years in the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Colloredo—with whom he would soon fall out—as pure “slavery,” after which he would go on to live in Vienna as a freelance musician and composer. The in-depth exploration of the human soul, as presented to us in this fragment, marks the beginning of a process of emancipation—from his employer, from his hometown, and from his own father.