It was an open secret in Mozart’s day that Wolfgang wished to free himself from service at the Salzburg court of the Archbishop Hieronymous von Colloredo. Mozart’s letters are full of colorful rants about the archbishop.
Colloredo became exceptionally annoyed with Mozart’s frequent absences. After a number of arguments, he ultimately dismissed him with the words, “Soll er doch gehen, ich brauche ihn nicht!” (“He should just go then; I don’t need him!”)
Mozart’s letters to his father recount his indignation at what he portrays as abusive and insulting behavior by the Archbishop. In his letter of June 13, 1781, Mozart recounts that the final indignity of his dismissal by Colloredo was a kick up the backside administered by the Archbishop’s steward, Count Arco.
Free at last Mozart left to pursue a career as a freelance performer and composer in Austria’s capital. In Vienna, Mozart met Constanze Weber (a cousin of the composer Carl Maria von Weber) and they were to be married on August 4, 1782. Mozart’s father, Leopold objected strongly to the wedding but in the end relented and gave his approval.
Just before the wedding, Wolfgang was involved in a rather large and influential project. A recent artistic trend in Vienna focused on the Ottoman Empire. Just a century before, Vienna has been attacked by the Turks, so it is somewhat unusual that music, art, clothing were so influenced by the Near East. Mozart’s contribution to this fad was his singspiel (an opera with spoken dialogue) The Abduction from the Seraglio.
In the singspiel, Mozart uses the “alla Turca style.” Inspired by the sounds of Turkish military bands, this style features strong downbeats and jangling grace notes that imitate the sounds of the Turkish Crescent, an instrument consisting of a long pole with an Islamic crescent adorned with small bells that jingled when the pole struck the floor in time with the music. The Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio contains the perfect example of this style. The Abduction takes place in sixteenth-century Turkey and concerns the efforts of Belmonte to find his lover Konstanze who has been abducted by pirates and sold to a Turkish Pasha named Osmin. All ends well after Osmin takes pity on Belmonte and pardons both him and Konstanze (and their devoted servants) from further punishment for their attempts at escape. This story was a popular farce in Vienna in the eighteenth century and was familiar to audiences. The work was first performed on July 16, 1782, at the Burgtheater in Vienna.