The Operas

Abstract Intermezzo in three acts, K38, to a Latin libretto by Father Rufinus Widl; first performed in Salzburg, at the Benedictine University, on 13 May 1767, with the five-act Latin tragedy Clementia Croesi by Widl. Mozart’s first stage work is an intermezzo, written to a text by the Gymnasium (school) teacher of syntax, for performance by students, some of them as young as the composer. The god Apollo (boy alto) and the wind god Zephyrus (boy alto) are rivals in love with Melia (boy soprano), daughter of Oebalus (tenor), King of Lacedonia—sanitizing the Greek myth in which Apollo is homosexually attracted to Hyacinth. In Widl’s version Hyacinthus (boy soprano), the son of Oebalus, is fatally wounded by Zephyrus to incriminate his rival and win Melia for himself. Melia denounces Apollo, but the dying Hyacinthus reveals the truth. Zephyrus is banished, Apollo and Melia marry, and the god turns Hyacinthus into the flower that bears his name.