Theatre music from Mozart's Vienna

As with Giuseppe Gazzaniga's Venetian Don Giovanni, modern interest in Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone) is largely due to the existence of a related opera by Mozart. The cases are, however, entirely different. Da Ponte used the one-act libretto of Gazzaniga's opera, by Giovanni Bertati, as his chief source for Mozart's Don Giovanni, expanding it into a full-length opera. Die Zauberflöte (1791) was written for Emanuel Schikaneder's company at the Theater auf der Wieden, which had presented Der Stein der Weisen a year earlier, with considerable success. Der Stein der Weisen was a product of musical collaboration, typical for that theatre. A score now in Hamburg, emanating from 1790s Vienna, is in a number of copyists’ hands (identified by Dexter Edge); this source was brought to public attention by David Buch, because in it most of the opera is attributed to one of five composers, including Mozart. Buch's efforts, which led to performance in 1998 and a recording (Telarc CD 80508), are worthily crowned by this full score.