Editing Die Entführung aus dem Serail (section)

==Origins==
The opera loosely refers to the practice of the North African [[Barbary corsairs]], who operated primarily in the western Mediterranean, of hijacking ships belonging to Christian states. Under the pretext of [[jihad]], the ship and cargo were sold or returned only after a [[ransom]] was paid. The actual goal, however, was the [[kidnapping]] of crew and passengers, to extort ransom money or to sell them into [[slavery]]. It was also common to force affected seafaring nations of non-Muslim faith to pay [[protection money]] or [[tribute]]. The corsairs acted on behalf of or with the acquiescence of the local Muslim rulers in [[Algiers]], [[Tunis]] and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. This type of state-backed piracy finally ended after the [[Invasion of Algiers (1830)|French conquest of Algiers (1830)]].<ref>[[Robert Letellier|Robert Ignatius Letellier]] (ed.): ''The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer''. Vol. 1: 1791–1839, Associated University Presses, Cranberry, London, Mississsauga 1999, {{ISBN|978-0838637890}}, p. 375</ref><ref>Hsu-Ming Teo: ''Desert Passions: Orientalism and Romance Novels'', University of Texas Press, Austin 2012, {{ISBN|978-0292739383}}, p. 46</ref>{{Relevance inline|date=October 2024}}

The company that first sponsored the opera was the {{lang|de|Nationalsingspiel}} ("national [[Singspiel]]"), a pet project (1778–1783) of the Austrian emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]]. The Emperor had set up the company to perform works in the German language (as opposed to the [[Italian opera]] style widely popular in Vienna). This project was ultimately given up as a failure, but along the way it produced a number of successes, mostly a series of translated works. Mozart's opera emerged as its outstanding original success.{{sfn|Manning|1982}}

The inspector of the {{lang|de|Nationalsingspiel}} was [[Gottlieb Stephanie]].<ref name="abert">{{harvnb|Abert|2007|loc=620}}</ref> When the 25-year-old Mozart arrived in Vienna in 1781, seeking professional opportunity, one of the first tasks to which he addressed himself was to become acquainted with Stephanie and lobby him for an opera commission. To this end, he brought a copy of his earlier unfinished opera ''[[Zaide]]'' and showed it to Stephanie, who was duly impressed. Mozart also made a strong impression on the manager of the theater, Count [[Orsini-Rosenberg|Franz Xaver Orsini-Rosenberg]], when in the home of Mozart's friend and patroness [[Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein|Maria Wilhelmine Thun]] the Count heard him play excerpts from his opera ''[[Idomeneo]]'', premiered with great success the previous year in [[Munich]].<ref name="abert" /> With this backing, it was agreed that Stephanie would find appropriate material and prepare a libretto for Mozart. Stephanie complied by preparing an altered version of an earlier work {{lang|de|[[Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail]]}} without attributing or seeking permission from its original author [[Christoph Friedrich Bretzner]]. Bretzner later complained loudly and publicly about the theft.{{sfn|Deutsch|1965|p=211}}