Bastien und Bastienne (Bastien and Bastienne), K. 50 (revised in 1964 to K. 46b) is a one-act singspiel, comic opera, with German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Weiskern and music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Bastien und Bastienne was one of Mozart's earliest operas, written in 1768 when he was only twelve years old. It was allegedly commissioned by Viennese physician and 'magnetist' Dr. Anton Mesmer (who himself would later be parodied in Così fan...
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Bastien und Bastienne (Bastien and Bastienne), K. 50 (revised in 1964 to K. 46b) is a one-act singspiel, comic opera, with German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Weiskern and music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Bastien und Bastienne was one of Mozart's earliest operas, written in 1768 when he was only twelve years old. It was allegedly commissioned by Viennese physician and 'magnetist' Dr. Anton Mesmer (who himself would later be parodied in Così fan tutte) as a satire of the 'pastoral' genre then prevalent, and specifically as a parody of the opera Le devin du village by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. After its supposed premiere in Mesmer's garden theater (that is only corroborated by an unverified account of Nissen), it was not revived again until 1890. It was first performed on October 2, 1890 at Architektenhaus in Berlin .
By a curious coincidence, the opening melody of the overture is almost identical to that of Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica. However, as the piece lay unperformed...
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