Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (The Obligation of the First and Foremost Command) K. 35

Every discipline has its Mount Everest, White Whale, Super Bowl, magic fairy dust ice cream sprinkles, or whichever idiom you choose to use.  It is the accomplishment where one passes from good (or even great) to master.  From what I have seemed to read, for a musician to master an opera was the greatest feat of a composer. To tame the beast, that is opera.  An 11 year old dare try. Or was pushed to try.  Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots. Young Mozart’s try in the ring. I would have liked to watch the whole thing, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I was able to listen to  all the music and snippets of the opera, and was surprised to hear a voice very similar to his later operas. I have no Idea how such a young person could write such beautiful music.

The music was beautiful, but it lacked what I think to be the emotional complexity of the libretto. From what I gathered (kind of an uneducated guess using Google translate and other tools), the story seems to be an internal struggle of one coming to fully accept the Christian faith.  The voices of faith compete with the blathers of worldliness.  The subject matter is rife with good emotional material that young Mozart doesn’t fully exploit.  He seems primarily concerned with making lovely music.  

As I continue to watch, I am curious to see where in his operatic history he progresses in his emotional connection with a work’s themes. What was the one opera that thrust Mozart into a master? An Opera Game changer.  Zaide is the earliest opera I have absorbed, where he has clearly grasps emotional complexities.

But, even with this work, there is some deep stuff there. In his own life, which voice won out? It seemed worldliness had a tight grasp on him. As he struggled, how did such Christian themes affect him? Were his sacred works, simply a means to make money, thus feeding worldliness? Were they tightly held virtues, he didn’t believe he was breaking? Or, did they reflect values he wanted to adhere to, but couldn’t get himself to act out?