Although W. A. Mozart wrote Idomeneo to commission for the Munich court and Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, a keen patron of the arts, who chose the subject himself, the opera is probably his most personal work (with the patriarchal system of blind obedience and a rebellion of the young seeming to evoke the composer’s tense relationship with his father Leopold), featuring excellently crafted characters. All the main protagonists are confronted with their own weaknesses or inability to defy fate. In the wake of the Trojan War, Idomeneo, King of Crete, made a fateful vow to Neptune, God of the Sea, to be executed should he arrive home safely. Just like the Old Testament’s Jephthah and Abraham, he faces the dilemma of whether to sacrifice his own child or to offend a god. Idomeneo ultimately yields, ready to kill his son, Idamante. Prince Idamante is in love with Ilia, daughter of Priam, the defeated King of Troy, who has lost her family and homeland in the war. Ilia is fond of Idamante, but hesitates to acknowledge her love of an enemy, whose father Idomeneo helped Achilles and Odysseus take Troy. Elettra, daughter of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, is wildly jealous of Ilia, and intends to win Idamante at any cost. Mozart rendered the heroes’ extreme emotions by means of ravishingly powerful music. He and the librettist Giovanni Battista Varesco ended the Ancient Greek story happily: Idomeneo’s old order gives way to the rule of love and reason, with Idamante and Ilia ascending the throne.

Gabriela Pešinová

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12 - 28 Nov, 2026

Idomeneo · Národní divadlo

Future and recently performed repertoire

First Cretan women in Idomeneo by Mozart

Národní divadlo

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