Dramma giocoso in three acts K. 196 (1774/75)
Lib­retto: Gi­useppe Pet­rosellini

Belfiore be­lieves he has killed his be­trothed, Vi­olante, in a fit of jeal­ousy. He flees in pan­ic – which does not pre­vent him from fall­ing for Ar­minda, who then spurns her ad­mirer Ramiro in fa­vour of Belfiore. Vi­olante, mean­while, searches for her lov­er with her ser­vant Roberto. Un­der a false name, she askes a post as garden­er on the es­tate of Don Anchise; her ser­vant passes him­self off as her cous­in. While Anchise pur­sues Vi­olante, Roberto ro­mances the maid. The labyrinth of pu­suit and de­cep­tion be­comes com­pletely en­tangled when Belfiore, his new con­quest Ar­minda and her per­sist­ent ad­mirer Ramiro turn up on the es­tate.

The Moz­art 22 pro­duc­tion of "La finta gi­ar­dini­era" was placed in the hands of Dor­is Dörrie, a noted film­maker and, more re­cently, dir­ect­or of con­tro­ver­sial op­era pro­duc­tions. Asked why she set the work in a garden centre, Dörrie replied: "It’s a mar­ket of emo­tions! The plants rep­res­ent feel­ings, the garden is our little paradiese. [...] We all have the same dream..., which is why we buy so much equip­ment, chem­ic­als, even weapons to keep our garden un­der con­trol. It must be kept in its bound­ar­ies, for just as an un­con­trolled garden can mutate in­to a wild jungle, so can un­con­trolled emo­tions, pro­lif­erat­ing like wild plants be­come dan­ger­ous to us."

John Gra­ham-Hall, Don Anchise
Al­ex­an­dra Re­in­precht, Vi­olante Onesti
John Mark Ains­ley, Belfiore
Véro­nique Gens, Ar­minda
Rux­an­dra Dono­se, Ramiro
Ad­ri­ana Kucer­ová, Ser­petta
Markus Werba, Roberto

Moz­ar­teum Or­ches­tra Salzburg

Ivor Bolton, con­duct­or
Dor­is Dörrie, stage dir­ect­or
Ag­nes Méth, video dir­ect­or

Re­cord­ing dates: 27.01.| 29.01.| 01.02.2006
Ven­ue: Salzbur­ger Landestheat­er