Mozart’s Childhood Opera: ‘Bastien and Bastienne’

Mozart's opera is the story of two young shepherds, Bastien and Bastienne, and their happy ending, aided by the village’s magician, Colas. Bastienne is shown here with the magician Colas in a production at the Marinsky Theatre. Public Domain

Everybody is familiar with Mozart’s most famous operas: “The Magic Flute,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” and “Don Giovanni.” But few are familiar with “Bastien and Bastienne,” a one-act singspiel (a comedic German opera with spoken dialogue), which Mozart composed when he was only 12 years old.

It was long considered his first opera, for although “Apollo and Hyacinthus” was written when he was 11, it was not accepted in society for its same-sex theme, and “La Finta Semplice,” also written when he was 12, had a delayed production.

Uncertain Origins

We don’t know much about the origins of this opera. What we do know comes from Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, Mozart’s first biographer and the second husband of Maria Constanze, the composer’s former wife.