Deutsche Grammophon

Lore & Background

Deutsche Grammophon's DVD of the Met's *Idomeneo* preserves the 1982 production that largely followed Mozart's 1781 Munich original, with four exceptions in act three: Elettra's aria 'D'Oreste, d'Aiace' and Idomeneo's 'Torna la pace' (both cut by Mozart) were reinstated, while Idamante's 'No, la morte' and a concluding ballet were omitted. The making of the DVD was supported by the Charles A. Dana Foundation. The telecast itself was funded by the Texaco Philanthropic Foundation, the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, and the National Endowment For the Arts.

Reader's Guide

For collectors, the Deutsche Grammophon DVD of *Idomeneo* (K. 366) offers the Met's first staging of the opera, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. The cast includes John Alexander as Idomeneo, Hildegard Behrens as Elettra, Ileana Cotrubaș as Ilia, Luciano Pavarotti as Idamante, and Frederica von Stade as Idamante. The 181-minute film was recorded live on 6 November 1982. The DVD's chapter listing on disc one includes the overture and act one, with tracks such as Ilia's aria 'Padre, germani, addio!' and the chorus 'Godiam la pace'.

Did You Know?

• The DVD release of the Met's *Idomeneo* was supported by the Charles A. Dana Foundation.
• The telecast was funded by the Texaco Philanthropic Foundation, the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, and the National Endowment For the Arts.
• The production reinstated two arias Mozart cut from the original 1781 Munich premiere: Elettra's 'D'Oreste, d'Aiace' and Idomeneo's 'Torna la pace'.
• The Met's 1982 production omitted Idamante's aria 'No, la morte' and the concluding ballet that Mozart had included.
• The DVD's disc one chapter listing includes the overture and act one, with tracks like Ilia's 'Padre, germani, addio!' and the chorus 'Godiam la pace'.

The 1982 Metropolitan Opera Production

On November 6, 1982, the Metropolitan Opera presented its very first staging of Mozart's Idomeneo, re di Creta, in a production that would become a landmark in televised opera. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle shaped the visual world, while James Levine guided the orchestra from the podium. The cast brought together a remarkable constellation of voices: John Alexander as Idomeneo, Hildegard Behrens as Elettra, Ileana Cotrubaș as Ilia, Luciano Pavarotti as Idamante, and Frederica von Stade completing the principal roles. The entire 181-minute performance was captured live and broadcast that same evening across the United States through PBS's Live from the Metropolitan Opera series. The televising received backing from the Texaco Philanthropic Foundation, the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For home audiences, the production was subsequently made available on VHS and Laserdisc, and Deutsche Grammophon later issued a DVD edition, a release supported by the Charles A. Dana Foundation.

The Myth of Idomeneus

Long before Mozart set it to music, the legend of Idomeneus had been passed down through Greek tradition. In the ancient tales, he was the king of Crete, descended from Minos and Pasiphaë through his father Deucalion. A suitor of Helen of Troy, he played a prominent role in the great war between Greeks and Trojans. The Odyssey credits him with guiding his men safely home after the Greeks' victory, without a single casualty. Yet later accounts tell of a violent storm during his return voyage, in which he made a desperate vow to Poseidon: if the god let him reach Cretan soil, he would offer the first living creature he encountered as a sacrifice. The sea god granted his plea. But when the battered ship finally made landfall, the first figure to greet him was his own son, Idamantes. The king's fulfillment of his oath triggered a devastating plague across the island. Blamed by his people, Idomeneus was cast out in exile to Sallentum in Calabria, and later to Colophon in Anatolia, where one tradition places his burial on Mount Cercaphus while Cretans honored his memory at a shrine in Knossos.

Mozart's Munich Masterpiece

In the autumn of 1780, the twenty-four-year-old Mozart, then in the service of Archbishop Colloredo in Salzburg, received a commission from the court of Karl Theodor, Prince-elector of Bavaria, to compose an opera for the Munich carnival season of 1781. Historians believe the court itself selected the subject of Idomeneus rather than the young composer. Mozart drew upon a French tragédie lyrique first staged in Paris in 1712, with text by Antoine Danchet and music by André Campra. Giambattista Varesco, a chaplain attached to the Salzburg court, reworked Danchet's libretto into a dramatically richer text with a happier resolution. Mozart's letters home to his father reveal the painstaking evolution of the score, including significant revisions prompted by the limited abilities of the singers cast as Idomeneo and Idamante. Despite these challenges, Mozart clearly relished the experience; the Mannheim-trained orchestra at Karl Theodor's court was considered the finest in all of Germany. His widow later told a biographer that Munich represented the happiest period of his life. The opera premiered at the Munich Residenz on January 29, 1781, with Mozart himself conducting, and was repeated on February 3 and March 3.

Fidelity and Departure: The 1982 Score

The 1982 Metropolitan Opera production made a conscious effort to honor the version Mozart conducted in Munich two centuries earlier, yet it introduced four notable alterations, all concentrated in the final act. Two arias that Mozart himself had excised from his own score were restored: Elettra's "D'Oreste, d'Aiace" and Idomeneo's "Torna la pace." Conversely, the production chose to omit Idamante's "No, la morte" and a lengthy concluding ballet that had been part of the original staging. These editorial decisions shaped the dramatic arc of the televised performance. The opera's setting is Sidon, a fictitious capital on the island of Crete, where the Cretan court awaits the king's return from the Trojan campaign. Two foreign princesses inhabit the court: Ilia, daughter of Priam and a prisoner of war, and Elettra, daughter of Agamemnon, who fled to Crete after her brother Orestes murdered their mother Clytemnestra. The dramatic engine of the work is the love triangle between Idamante, Ilia, and Elettra, compounded by the king's terrible oath to Poseidon and the revelation that the first man he must sacrifice is his own son.