Using a wide range of primary sources which include the superb collections of eighteenth-century opera posters and concert programmes in Leipzig and the Indice de' teatrali spettacoli, an almanac of Italian singers and dancers, this study examines the annual schedules, recruitment networks, casting policies and repertoire selections of this important company.

Woodfield shows how Italian-language performances of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and La clemenza di Tito flourished along the well-known cultural axis linking Prague in Bohemia to Dresden and Leipzig in Saxony.
The important part played by concert performances of operatic arias in the early reception of Mozart's works is also discussed and new information is presented about the reception of Josepha Duschek and Mozart in Leipzig.

Contents
Dedication
Illustrations
Figures
Musical examples
Abbreviations
Introduction
1: Pasquale Bondini
2: Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
3: The Italian troupe in Prague
4: The Prague Figaro
5: The genesis of Don Giovanni
6: The premiere of Don Giovanni
7: The casting of Don Giovanni
8: The Leipzig Don Giovanni
9: The 1788 Prague Don Giovanni
10: Mozart's music in Leipzig
11: Josepha Duschek's academy (22 April 1788)
12: Mozart's academy (12 May 1789)
13: Guardasoni in Warsaw
14: The premiere of La clemenza di Tito
15: The Leipzig reception of the Da Ponte operas (1792-1794)
16: Guardasoni diversifies:
-Il flauto magico
-La clemenza di Tito
-Idomeneo
-The Requiem
-Conclusion
Appendices:
1: Leipzig posters for performances given by the Bondini-Guardasoni Company
2: Announcements placed in the Leipziger Zeitungen by the Bondini-Guardasoni Company 1782-1784
3: Concert performances of music from Haydn's operas in Leipzig (1785-1791)
4: Selected details of benefit concerts given by instrumentalists in Leipzig 1780-1789
5: Performances of Mozart's music at the Gewandhaus Subscription Concerts (1791-1794) [G] and the Dilettanten Concert (1793-1794) [R]
6: Music from La clemenza di Tito in Leipzig concerts (1795-1797)
7: Music from Idomeneo in Leipzig Concerts (1795-1797)
Bibliography:
-Archival sources
-Journals and newspapers
-Almanacs
-Books and articles
Index


About the author:
Ian Woodfield is Professor of Historical Musicology at Queen's University Belfast, where he teaches courses in notation, musical instruments and early repertoire. His books include Music of the Raj (2000), Opera and Drama (2002) and Mozart's Così fan tutte: A Compositional History (2008), which received the Mozart Society of America's second Marjorie Weston Emerson Award.

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