Bastien und Bastienne / The Telephone

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was barely 12 years old when he composed his bucolic little opera Bastien and Bastienne, which was performed at an “alternative venue”, the garden of a certain Doctor Mesmer. This is the very same Mesmer whose magnetic invention Mozart later alluded to with such comic effect toward the end of his operatic career, in Così fan tutte. As a counterpart to this charming love story, the evening also presents Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1947 one-act opera, which at its premiere was a delightful jest. Today, however, it stands as a tragicomic diagnosis of our times: mobile communication has rewritten our world and added new layers of meaning to the work. Andrea Valkai’s staging (in the case of The Telephone, adapted from András Almási-Tóth’s original production) has been placed in an alternative venue: on the proscenium of the auditorium of the Opera House, that is, on a raised platform above the orchestra pit, beneath Károly Lotz’s famous ceiling fresco.