Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's operas comprise 22 musical dramas in a variety of genres. They range from the small-scale, derivative works of his youth to the full-fledged operas of his maturity. Three of the works were abandoned before completion and were not performed until many years after the composer's death. His mature works are all considered classics and have never been out of the repertory of the world's opera houses.
From a very young age, Mozart had, according to opera analyst David Cairns, "an extraordinary capacity ... for seizing on and assimilating whatever in a newly encountered style (was) most useful to him". In a letter to his father, dated 7 February 1778, Mozart wrote, "As you know, I can more or less adopt or imitate any kind and style of composition". He used this gift to break new ground, becoming simultaneously "assimilator, perfector and innovator". Thus, his early works follow the traditional forms of the Italian opera seria and opera buffa as well as the German Singspiel. In his maturity, according to music writer Nicholas Kenyon, he "enhanced all of these forms with the richness of his innovation", and, in Don Giovanni, he achieved a synthesis of the two Italian styles, including a seria character in Donna Anna, buffa characters in Leporello and Zerlina, and a mixed seria-buffa character in Donna Elvira. Unique among composers, Mozart ended all his mature operas, starting with Idomeneo, in the key of the overture.
Ideas and characterisations introduced in the early works were subsequently developed and refined. For example, Mozart's later operas feature a series of memorable, strongly drawn female characters, in particular the so-called "Viennese soubrettes" who, in opera writer Charles Osborne's phrase, "contrive to combine charm with managerial instinct". Music writer and analyst Gottfried Kraus has remarked that all these women were present, as prototypes, in the earlier operas; Bastienne (1768), and Sandrina (La finta giardiniera, 1774) are precedents for the later Constanze and Pamina, while Sandrina's foil Serpetta is the forerunner of Blonde, Susanna, Zerlina and Despina.
Mozart's texts came from a variety of sources, and the early operas were often adaptations of existing works. The first librettist chosen by Mozart himself appears to have been Giambattista Varesco, for Idomeneo in 1781. Five years later, he began his most enduring collaboration, with Lorenzo Da Ponte, his "true phoenix".[1] The once widely held theory that Da Ponte was the librettist for the discarded Lo sposo deluso of 1783/84 has now been generally rejected. Mozart felt that, as the composer, he should have considerable input into the content of the libretto, so that it would best serve the music. Musicologist Charles Rosen writes, "it is possible that Da Ponte understood the dramatic necessities of Mozart's style without prompting; but before his association with da Ponte, Mozart had already bullied several librettists into giving him the dramatically shaped ensembles he loved."
The list includes all the theatrical works generally accepted as composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In this context "theatrical" means performed on a stage, by vocalists singing in character, in accordance with stage directions. Some sources have adopted more specific criteria, leading them to exclude the early "Sacred Singspiel" Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, which they classify as an oratorio. However, as Osborne makes clear, the libretto contains stage directions which suggest that the work was acted, not merely sung, and it is formally described as a "geistliches Singspiel" (sacred play with music), not as an oratorio. The Singspiel Der Stein der Weisen was written in collaboration with four other composers, so it is only partially credited to Mozart who only contributed one aria.
In general, the list follows the sequence in which the operas were written. There is uncertainty about whether La finta semplice was written before or after Bastien und Bastienne, and in some listings the former is given priority. Thamos was written in two segments, the earlier in 1774, but is listed in accordance with its completion in 1779–80. Die Zauberflöte and La clemenza di Tito were written concurrently. Die Zauberflote was started earlier and put aside for the Tito commission, which was completed and performed first and is usually listed as the earlier work despite having a higher Köchel catalogue number.
Key: Incomplete opera Collaborative work
| + Operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |||||||||
| Period | Title | Genre and acts | Libretto | Voice parts | Premiere | Köchel | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Librettist | Date | Venue | |||||||
| 1766–67 | German: [[Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots]], Part 1 (The obligation of the first and foremost commandment) | Sacred Singspiel (collaboration) | German | 3 soprano, 2 tenor | 12 March 1767 | Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg | K.35 Score Libretto | ||
| 1767 | Latin: [[Apollo et Hyacinthus]] (Apollo and Hyacinth) | Music for a Latin drama | Latin | Rufinus Widl, after Ovid's Latin: [[Metamorphoses]] | 2 treble, 2 boy alto, 1 tenor, 2 bass, chorus | 13 May 1767 | Great Hall, University of Salzburg | K.38 Score | |
| 1768 | German: [[Bastien und Bastienne]] (Bastien and Bastienne) | Singspiel 1 act | German | F. W. Weiskern and J. H. Muller | 1 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 bass | 2 October 1890. | Architektenhaus, Wilhelmstraße 92, Berlin | K.50/46b Score | |
| 1768 | Italian: [[La finta semplice]] (The feigned simpleton) | Opera buffa 3 acts | Italian | Marco Coltellini, after Carlo Goldoni | 3 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass | 1 May 1769 | Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg | K.51/46a Score | |
| 1770 | Italian: [[Mitridate, re di Ponto]] (Mithridates, King of Pontus) | Opera seria 3 acts | Italian | , based on G. Parini's translation of Racine's French: [[Mithridate (Racine)|Mithridate]] | 4 soprano, 1 alto, 2 tenor | 26 December 1770 | Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan | K.87/74a Score | |
| 1771 | Italian: [[Ascanio in Alba]] (Ascanius in Alba) | Festspiel 2 acts | Italian | Giuseppe Parini | 4 soprano, 1 tenor, chorus | 17 October 1771 | Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan | K.111 Score | |
| 1772 | Italian: [[Il sogno di Scipione]] (Scipio's Dream) | Azione teatrale, or Serenata drammatica 1 act | Italian | Metastasio, based on Cicero's Latin: [[Somnium Scipionis]] | 3 soprano, 3 tenor, chorus | 1 May 1772 (probably) | Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg | K.126 Score | |
| 1772 | Italian: [[Lucio Silla]] | Dramma per musica 3 acts | Italian | Giovanni de Gamerra, revised by Metastasio | 4 soprano, 2 tenor, chorus | 26 December 1772 | Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan | K.135 Score | |
| 1774–75 | Italian: [[La finta giardiniera]] (The pretend garden-maid) | Dramma giocoso 3 acts | Italian | Probably Giuseppe Petrosellini | 4 soprano, 2 tenor, 1 bass, chorus | 13 January 1775 | , Munich | K.196 Score | |
| 1775 | Italian: [[Il re pastore]] (The Shepherd King) | Serenata 2 acts | Italian | Metastasio, amended by Varesco, based on Tasso's Italian: [[Aminta]] | 3 soprano, 2 tenor | 23 April 1775 | Archbishop's Palace, Salzburg | K.208 Score | |
| 1773, 1779 | German: [[Thamos, King of Egypt|Thamos, König in Ägypten]] (Thamos, King of Egypt) | Choruses and entr'actes for a heroic drama | German | Soprano, alto, tenor, bass (chorus and soloists) | 4 April 1774 (two choruses) | Kärntnertor Theatre, Vienna | K.345/336a Score | ||
| 1779–80 (complete) | Salzburg | ||||||||
| 1779–80 | German: [[Zaide]] | Singspiel (incomplete) | German | Johann Andreas Schachtner | 1 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass, mini-chorus of 4 tenors, 1 speaking role | 27 January 1866 | Frankfurt | K.344/336b Score | |
| 1780–81 | Italian: [[Idomeneo|Idomeneo, re di Creta]] (Idomeneus, King of Crete) | Dramma per musica 3 acts | Italian | Varesco, after Antoine Danchet's French: [[Idoménée]] | 3 soprano, 1 mezzo-soprano, 4 tenor, 1 baritone, 2 bass, chorus | 29 January 1781 | Court Theatre (now Cuvilliés Theatre), Munich | K.366 Score | |
| 1781–82 | German: [[Die Entführung aus dem Serail]] (The Abduction from the Seraglio) | Singspiel 3 acts | German | Gottlieb Stephanie, based on C. Bretzner's German: [[Belmont und Constanze|Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail]] | 2 soprano, 2 tenor, 1 bass, 2 speaking roles | 16 July 1782 | Burgtheater, Vienna | K.384 Score Libretto | |
| 1783 | Italian: [[L'oca del Cairo]] (The goose of Cairo) | Dramma giocoso (incomplete) 3 acts | Italian | Varesco | (Provisional) 4 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass, chorus | 6 June 1867 | Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes, Paris | K.422 Score | |
| 1783–84 | Italian: [[Lo sposo deluso]] (The Deluded Bridegroom) | Opera buffa (incomplete) 2 acts | Italian | Unknown. Once attributed to Da Ponte but may have been by Giuseppe Petrosellini. | (Provisional) 3 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass | 6 June 1867 | Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes, Paris | K.430/424a Score | |
| 1786 | German: [[Der Schauspieldirektor]] (The Impresario) | Comic singspiel 1 act | German | Gottlieb Stephanie | 2 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 bass, 6 speaking roles | 7 February 1786 | Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna | K.486 Score | |
| 1785–86 | Italian: [[The Marriage of Figaro|Le nozze di Figaro]] (The Marriage of Figaro) | Opera buffa 4 acts | Italian | Da Ponte, based on Beaumarchais's French: [[The Marriage of Figaro (play)|La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro]] | 5 soprano, 2 tenor, 1 baritone, 3 bass, chorus | 1 May 1786 | Burgtheater, Vienna | K.492 Score Libretto | |
| 1787 | Italian: [[Don Giovanni]] | Dramma giocoso 2 acts | Italian | Da Ponte, based on Giovanni Bertati's Italian: [[Don Giovanni Tenorio]] | 3 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 baritone, 3 bass, chorus | 29 October 1787 | Estates Theatre, Prague | K.527 Score Libretto | |
| 1789–90 | Italian: [[Così fan tutte]] (Women are like that or All women do that) | Dramma giocoso 2 acts | Italian | Da Ponte | 3 soprano, 1 tenor, 1 baritone, 1 bass, chorus | 26 January 1790 | Burgtheater, Vienna | K.588 Score Libretto | |
| 1790 | German: [[Der Stein der Weisen]] (The Philosopher's Stone) (Pasticcio composed with J. B. Henneberg, F. Gerl, B. Schack and E. Schikaneder) | Singspiel (collaboration) 2 acts | German | Emanuel Schikaneder | 3 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 baritone, 1 bass, 1 speaking role | 11 September 1790 | Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna | ||
| 1791 | Italian: [[La clemenza di Tito]] (The clemency of Titus) | Opera seria 2 acts | Italian | Metastasio, revised by Caterino Mazzolà | 2 soprano, 2 mezzo-soprano, 1 tenor, 1 bass, chorus | 6 September 1791 | Estates Theatre, Prague | K.621 Score Libretto | |
| 1791 | German: [[The Magic Flute|Die Zauberflöte]] (The Magic Flute) | Singspiel 2 acts | German | Emanuel Schikaneder | 6 soprano, 2 mezzo-soprano, 1 alto, 4 tenor, 1 baritone, 4 bass, chorus | 30 September 1791 | Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna | K.620 Score Libretto | |