Although the operatic repertory of our time is dominated by three composers—Mozart, Verdi and Puccini—it is not always observed that we enjoy the Italians for their sometimes grim and sometimes sensational picture of the world, while Mozart is acclaimed for his comedy. In view of the overwhelming pre-eminence of serious opera in our consciousness—if we add Beethoven, Wagner and Strauss to the Italians—Mozart's high standing in today's scale of cultural values is rather surprising. For his operatic celebrity rests on four very unusual comic operas: a satirical topical comedy (Le nozze di Figaro), a comic morality play (Don Giovanni), an artificial comedy of manners (Così fan tutte), and a suburban pantomime (Die Zauberflöte). In contrast to the general disdain in which all other eighteenth-century opera is held, our passion for Mozart's operas is explained by the fact that his hot line to the sublime worked equally well with Da Ponte's clever librettos and Schickaneder's messy one as with string quartets and symphonies. We take the trouble to grasp the social and theatrical inferences of these classic comedies (especially Die Zauberflöte) simply because Mozart composed them, whereas we would scarcely bother to do so for other composers of the time. If it were not for Mozart, eighteenth-century opera would be as baffling and impenetrable to modern audiences as that of the seventeenth century.

So we have Mozart to thank not only for holding the door open to the boundless riches of eighteenth-century opera, but also for holding up the status of comic opera against the overwhelming competition of suicidal prima donnas, Teutonic superheroes, deranged step-daughters and despairing hunchbacks.