Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) was Mozart's first important success. The singspiel (featuring spoken dialogue rather than sung recitatives) was both a wonderful achievement in itself and a gesture to Vienna's infatuation with "Turkish" music. Premiered during the composer's first full year in Vienna (July 1782), it holds a treasure trove of superb arias and ensembles. Requiring virtuoso singing from two of its principals and sustained lyric vocalism from the rest, it is both a charming entertainment and an example of Mozart's finest and most inventive writing.

Aside from the Turkish aspects, Mozart's orchestra here offers a more subtle and sophisticated complement of instruments than found in his earlier operas. Especially noteworthy are the woodwind combinations. Mozart wrote for clarinets in C (seldom used today) and basset horns at the lower end of the tonal spectrum. Horns, too, were varied. Performing decisions must be reached in several instances as to the octave in which the instruments are to be played; Mozart did not specify them. The "Turkish" element had evolved from earlier times to something slightly more specific. The large drum ('Tambura Turca'), the cymbals, the piccolo, and the triangle had come from military bands and were employed by Mozart and Haydn (as conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt has noted) to represent aggressive behavior. Earlier, these instruments had been used primarily for exotic coloration. Here, they signified overt conflict.

The libretto, by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie (who later provided him with the libretto for Der Schauspieldirektor), features another popular topic in later eighteenth century drama—the rescue of an abducted heroine. In this instance, she is a lady of noble Spanish birth who has been captured by Barbary pirates and sold into the captivity of the Pasha Selim, who has fallen in love with her. In the end, she is rescued by her beloved, Belmonte, with the assistance of his servant, Pedrillo.

Mozart composed with certain singers already in mind. For Konstanze, he had in mind Katherina Cavalieri, who was a dramatic singer with facility well above top C. The celebrated Ludwig Fischer was selected for Pasha Selim's overseer, Osmin, whose music descends to low D and demands agility rare for a bass as well as a trill, rarer still. Osmin has three major arias, two of them coming at the very beginning of Act One, while the third, "O, Wie will ich Triumphieren," is a centerpiece of the final act. Belmonte requires a fluent tenor of suppleness and suavity. Both Blonde and Pedrillo, too, have arias testing legato and requiring focused tone.

The exotic setting, a Turkish seraglio, was no impediment to the work's popularity. Vivid costumes and foreign stage sets made an immediate impression, and have continued to do so long as producers and directors do not attempt to make Die Entführung "relevant."

Die Entführung aus dem Serail is another of those works whose fate depends upon the availability of singers who can manage their difficult roles. Konstanzes are always in short supply. Coloraturas with the desired vocal weight are few in number—and often on call for roles in serious rather than comic works. Osmin is often assigned to artists accomplished in comedy but considerably short on the vocal end.

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