The historic production of Mozart's early opera returns to the stage of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre for the 2025 Mozart Week, featuring Günther Schneider-Siemssen's distinctive original set design.
Count Belfiore and Arminda
The beautiful gardener Sandrina is turning heads in the town of Lagonero. The mayor has fallen in love with her, which has his maid simmering with jealousy. Little does anyone suspect: behind the gardener’s guise lies none other than Countess Violante Onesti, who is searching for her former lover. And indeed, one day he appears – though he is now engaged to another. Unexpected encounters, hidden desires, and old promises spark a lively and turbulent plot ...
Eighteen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart premiered his opera La finta giardiniera (K. 196) in Munich exactly 250 years ago. Fifty years ago, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre created its own production for the Mozart Week, with its unique set design inspired by the paintings of Antoine Watteau and designed by the legendary stage designer Günther Schneider-Siemssen. Now, this historic production is being newly staged. In a shortened version, a contemporary musical recording is enriched with new German dialogues, spoken live by students from the Thomas Bernhard Institute of the Mozarteum University.
Set design: Günther Schneider-SiemssenCostume design: Marie-Luise WalekProduction and concept: Philippe BrunnerEnsemble of the Salzburg Marionette TheatreDialogue-recitation: Lola Giwerzew, Ruth Habart, Amadeus König, Victoria Kraft, Tanja Radovanovic, Emma Rebmann, Theo Thun (Students of the departments Acting, Staging & Applied Theatre – Thomas Bernhard Institute of the Salzburg Mozarteum University)
Shortened version with new dialogues in German Using the sound recording La finta giardiniera with Sophie Karthäuser, Jeremy Ovenden, Alex Penda, Marie-Claude Chappuis, Nicolas Rivenq, Sunhae Im, Michael NagyFreiburg Baroque Orchestra, conductor: René JacobsHarmonia Mundi 2012
In German and Italian with German and English panel textsDuration approx. 2 hours, with intermission