For more videos click on the experience tab above
The Abduction from the Seraglio is sung in German with an electronic surtitles screen above the stage carrying a translation in English (and Welsh in Wales) of everything that is being sung - so it's easy to follow all the action! Check when booking your tickets that a view of the surtitles is available from the seats you chose.
Running time approximately 3 hours
Supported by
and the WNO Partnership
Act I
In front of the palace beside the sea where Pasha Selim has retired to recover from the loss of his beloved and his fortune, and the disgrace of his expulsion from Spain, which he has suffered at the hands of the Commandant of Oran.
Belmonte Lostados, a rich Spaniard, son of the Commandant, has been separated from his fiancée Constanza in a pirate attack on their vessel. He has sailed to Turkey, where Constanza, her English maid Blonde and his servant Pedrillo, have been sold into slavery and are being held captive in Pasha Selim’s house. Selim has chosen Constanza as his favourite, but up until now she has managed to save off his wooing and refused to become his wife.
Belmonte meets the overseer of Selim’s estate, the malicious and fanatical Osmin, who has a great hatred for Christians. When Belmonte asks politely if this is Pasha Selim’s house, Osmin refuses to give a civil answer, and threatens him with a long list of punishments if he will not go away, swearing by the Beard of the Prophet that he will catch up with him in the end. Only when Pedrillo arrives does Belmonte learn that he has come to the right place. Pedrillo tells him how they were captured and imprisoned, and says that Constanza remains faithful to him, despite the Pasha’s importunings. Instead of attempting an immediate escape, Pedrillo suggests introducing Belmonte to Selim as an architect. Constanza is with him on the pleasure-boat, which now approaches, and Belmonte sings of his excitement at the prospects of seeing her again.
Selim’s boat arrives, and is greeted by an ecstatic chorus of Janissaries. Selim tries to persuade Constanza to accept the pleasures of the life he is offering. Constanza sings of her constant love for Belmonte. Selim betrays her for her ingratitude and she departs. Pedrillo introduces Belmonte as an architect. Selim likes the look of him, and says he will call for him the following day. Once Selim has gone, and in spite of Osmin’s opposition, they enter the palace.
Act II
In the garden of palace. Blonde lectures Osmin on the way to win a maiden’s heart, while Osmin tells her that in Turkey he is the master, she is the slave, and she will do things his way. Blonde protests that she is a freeborn Englishwoman and nobody’s slave. She fends Osmin off, threatening him with fifty of the best on the soles of his feet. Osmin grumbles that Englishmen are fools to let their women have their way, but leaves when Blonde threatens to scratch his eyes out. Constanza sings a sorrowful aria, and Selim reminds her that she has only one day to make up her mind to love him, otherwise he will subject her to ‘every form of torment’. This is the cue for Constanza’s great aria, ‘Martern aller Arten’. They leave, and Pedrillo whispers to Blonde that Belmonte has arrived, and has a ship ready to rescue them. Blonde rejoices, and Pedrillo sings a belligerent song, which brings Osmin to see what the noise is about. Pedrillo persuades Osmin to forget Muhammad’s prohibitions and join him in a drink of wine. ‘Vivat Bacchus’ they sing, and Osmin is led off blind drunk to bed. Now that the watchdog has gone Pedrillo brings Constanza and Belmonte together. After their first expressions of joy, Belmonte wonders whether perhaps Constanza loves the Pasha after all. Pedrillo suggests that Osmin might in fact already have exercised his signorial rights over Blonde, and gets his ears soundly boxed. With some difficulty, both Belmonte and Pedrillo obtain pardons for voicing such unpardonable doubts, and they sing a fugato finale: ‘True love is unending and all we desire; no more let the fire of jealousy burn!’