An examination of mozart's abducted heroines

Abstract

In the process of learning the role of Pamina for the School of Music's production of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) in 1996, I was struck by the fact that no fewer than four of the operas from Mozart's mature (Vienna) period featured abducted women. The women referred to are, Ilia (Idomeneo) Constanza (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). Ilia's abduction from her homeland is a political ploy by the King of Greece, sending her back as a trophy of war. She is powerless to escape her fate and tosses with relentless thoughts of revenge. Constanza and her two servants have been abducted by the Selim Pasha of Turkey. The Pasha desires Constanza to join his many wives in his harem. He has fallen in love with this young English woman and although he could force her to love him he wants her to come to him of her own choosing. Unlike Ilia, Constanza has the power to refuse the Pasha but by so doing condemns herself to death. The abduction of Zerlina occurs during the finale of Act One. She has been mercilessly flirting with the suave and seductive Don Giovanni who has seen her as yet another notch on his belt. She naively allows herself to become a victim but is rescued before any possible violation. As is Ilia abducted by powerful forces, so too is Pamina. However, an army does not remove her from her home instead a mighty priest. She is thrown like a pawn between the forces of good and evil, torn between the goodness of the priest and the evil conspiring of her mother, the Queen of the Night.