Among Mozart’s major operas, in the 1830s, two of his works remained unknown because they did not conform to contemporary Italian tastes: the Turkish-style singspiel,...

Among Mozart’s major operas, in the 1830s, two of his works remained unknown because they did not conform to contemporary Italian tastes: the Turkish-style singspiel, Il ratto dal serraglio and Idomeneo. To assure a successful La Scala staging, physician and musicologist Pietro (Peter) Lichtenthal (1780-1853) undertook a considerable re-working of one of them, “Seraglio”. In the end, however, La Scala never staged this adaptation of the opera. The musical material prepared by Lichtenthal was only heard for the first—and perhaps, last—time at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza in May 2012.