Idomeneo
| Idomeneo | |
|---|---|
| by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
 Portrait by Doris Stock, 1789 | |
| Genre | Opera seria in 3 acts |
| Librettist | Giambattista Varesco |
| Language | Italian |
| Premiere | Munich 29 January 1781 |
Idomeneo is an opera seria with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The libretto (words in Italian) was written by Giambattista Varesco. He based it on a French text by Antoine Danchet. In 1780 Mozart and Varesco were asked by the Elector of Bavaria to write an opera for a court carnival.
Idomeneo was first performed in Munich on 29 January 1781. Mozart was only 24 years old. It was the first of his great operas.
Mozart wrote three different types of opera: Idomeneo is an opera seria (serious opera). These were written in Italian, and are about serious, dramatic stories, often stories from Ancient Greece or Rome. La Clemenza di Tito is also an opera seria. Don Giovanni is an example of a mixture of comic and serious opera, while The Magic Flute is a German opera in the Singspiel tradition.
Idomeneo has traditional recitatives and arias. The choruses, marches, and ballets were very much like French opera tradition. Mozart was inspired by the operas of Gluck.