Complete Incompleteness: The posthumous life of W.A. Mozart’s Opera Fragments

This project investigates the earlier and modern histories of three opera fragments by W.A. Mozart: Zaide, L’oca del Cairo, and Lo sposo deluso.

Through an in-depth examination of individual versions, created after composer’s death, the project aims to formulate and trace the ways Mozart’s opera music and musical ´persona´ as a whole were conceptualized and appreciated from 1791 up until the present day.

In doing so, it addresses the following challenging questions: how did Mozart’s opera fragments migrate through time and space? What adaptation mechanisms did they develop in response to new habitats? How were these adaptations received by the audience?The work on the project will be divided into three stages.

The purpose of the first stage is to extract all available data from various archival and library collections: handwritten and printed scores and libretti, scenery and costume sketches, newspaper announcements and critical reviews. The second stage is primarily focused on data evaluation and interpretation.

This will be achieved by 1) tracing the ´itineraries´ of related material objects; 2) analysing translations, adaptations, and transmutations of texts and searching for the internal relationships between a plethora of newly created versions, and 3) juxtaposing newly created versions and Mozart’s originals, and studying the available critical discussions.

The final stage is dedicated to a completion and publication of the project’s final product: the book.