4. Mozart Junior Festival in Warsaw
Basen Artystyczny Stage
Wolfgang Amadeusz Mozart
Bastien and Bastienne
Children performance
Director: Tomasz Cyz
Set designer: Karolina Łucja Bramowicz
Music director: Kuba Wnuk
Choreography: Weronika Bartold
CAST
Teresa Marut – Bastienne
Łukasz Ratajczak – Bastien
Dominik Mazan – Colas
MACV QUINTET
Paweł Książkiewicz – flute
Grzegorz Lalek – violin
Marcin Sochan – violin
Marcin Stefaniuk – viola
Karolina Szewczykowska – cello
Kuba Wnuk – harpsichord
Audio dialogues
Weronika Humaj
Przemysław Stippa
Jakub Zając
Video recording
Teresa Marut
Łukasz Ratajczak
Dominik Mazan
Weronika Humaj
Bastien and Bastienne is an operatic story for children, told by a child. It’s hard to believe that this delightful little piece was composed by a twelve-year-old! And it was not the first operatic try of W. A. Mozart. The opera was written to dry the tears of little Mozart. The great three-act opera, that he had composed at the request of a professional theatre a moment earlier was never staged. It was the result of the intrigues of adult artists, who were terrified by the talent of the genius brat. When the plot was successful, a friend of the Mozart family ordered this piece from a teenager and probably staged it in his garden.
The work allows the children’s audience to come to terms with the operatic convention. A dozen or so short, cheerful musical pieces, a simple plot, spoken dialogues that allow you to fully understand the text, no unnecessary characters and threads make it an ideal first contact opera.
What is the content? A girl named Bastienne worries that her friend Bastien prefers another girlfriend. She seeks advice from a wizard. The wizard, being rather more resourceful and using psychology than superstition, leads the action to a happy ending.