What is Idomeneo?
{{Infobox opera | name = Idomeneo | translated_name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Mozart drawing Doris Stock 1789.jpg | image_size = 220px | alt = | caption = Portrait by Doris Stock, 1789 | genre = [[Opera seria]] in 3 acts | other_name = | composer = [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] | librettist = [[Giambattista Varesco]] | language = Italian | based_on = | premiere_date = | premiere_location = [[Munich]]<br>29 January 1781 | other = | website = }} '''''Idomeneo''''' is an [[opera seria]] with music by [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]. The [[libretto]] (words in [[Italian language|Italian]]) was written by Giambattista Varesco. He based it on a [[French language|French]] text by Antoine Danchet. In [[1780]] Mozart and Varesco were asked by the [[Elector]] of [[Bavaria]] to write an opera for a court [[carnival]]. ''Idomeneo'' was first performed in [[Munich]] on [[29 January]] [[1781]]. Mozart was only 24 years old. It was the first of his great operas. Mozart wrote three different types of opera: '' Idomeneo'' is an [[opera seria]] (serious opera). These were written in Italian, and are about serious, dramatic stories, often stories from [[Ancient Greece]] or [[Rome]]. ''[[La Clemenza di Tito]]'' is also an opera seria. ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' is an example of a mixture of comic and serious opera, while ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' is a German opera in the [[Singspiel]] tradition. ''Idomeneo'' has traditional [[recitative]]s and [[aria]]s. The choruses, marches, and ballets were very much like French opera tradition. Mozart was inspired by the operas of [[Gluck]]. [[Category:Compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] [[Category:1780s operas]] [[Category:1781]]