Distributor: C Major Entertainment / Unitel
Length: 89 min.
16:9 shot in Digital Video 25P / stereo & 5.1 surround sound
© 2006, a production of Unitel, and BFMI in co-production
with Classica, in cooperation with the Salzburg Festival
First part of religious singspiel K. 35 (1767)
Libretto: Ignaz Anton Weiser
"Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots" is an allegorical drama in three parts that was first performed in the Archbishop’s residence in March 1767. Mozart composed the first part. The work is an offshoot of the 17th–century tradition of the Jesuit school drama in which the characters are purely symbolic.
Here, the "lukewarm Christian" becomes the object of contention between two authorities. Worldliness tempts him with the pleasures of the senses; a trio formed by Justice, Mercy and Christian Spirit urges him to choose and active Christian life. Mozart included such subtle musical touches as a ¾ dance rhythm and merry woodwinds deployed by Worldli-ness and an alto trombone that sumons the hero to the Last Judgement – an instrumental color that will appear prominently in "Don Giovanni".
| Conductor Stage director Video director |
Josef Wallnig John Dew Christian K. Weiß |
Gerechtigkeit Barmherzigkeit Weltgeist Christgeist Christ |
Michicko Watanabe Cordula Schuster Christiane Karg Bernhard Berchtold Peter Sonn |
Mozarteum University Symphony Orchestra
Recording dates: 04.08.| 27.08.| 28.08.2006
Venue: Great Hall of the Salzburg University
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