Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed the composition of La Finta Giardiniera in Munich in January 1775, when he was 18
. A few years later, he turns his work into a German Singspiel, Die Liebe aus Gärtnerin, with spoken dialogue. In this form the opera was played until 1978, when the critical edition of theNeue Mozart Ausgabe renders the work in its original form.

The libretto, generally attributed to Giuseppe Petrosellini is, admittedly, somewhat complicated: Don Anchises (the Podestà) has a servant Serpette he loves, but he now prefers the gardener Sandrina in Marchesa Violante Onesti reality left for dead by her lover Count Belfiore. Pruning is angry and rejects the love of the gardener Nardo, actually the servant of the Marquise. Ramiro, Arminda former fiance, is also angry because she was betrothed to Count Belfiore
. After a series of misunderstandings, the opera ends with three marriages, leaving only Don Anchises

. Although clumsy, the story does not develop typically less Mozart themes: It is about love, the inconsistency of love, the difficulty in love and the need for change in love. We see music as the premise of his personality: Mozart manipulates with the skill and serio buffo, and undertakes to treat the clichés of the genre in a personal way. So he says the role of the Podestà a tenor rather than the traditional bass buffo Italian, or the role of Ramiro in a castrato, something more seria. In addition, his writing while flexibility and rich harmonies foreshadowed his major operas.

Yet when in 1986 Karl-Ernst and Ursel Herrmann mount the opera with Sylvain Cambreling, La Finta Giardiniera is not considered a Mozart opera “quality”. It will take all the talent of the pair of directors into the triumph it will become. Their work will give full meaning to the psychology of the characters and their feelings. Sunny grove of trees, the scenery becomes a much more poetic and theatrical than realistic. In his preface to the recording of the show, Gerard Mortier, director of the Mint, the work of Herrmann says it was a “representation rooted in contemporary rococo aesthetic. Sets and costumes do not tend to a pure realism, but are translated into the reality of the theater. So the trees do not they constitute a realistic natural setting. They say instead that the characters live. ” The remake directed by the Prague State Opera three years ago, was stripped of his side ‘rococo’ but has lost none of its freshness and its accuracy.

Conductor John Nelson will head to the Symphony Orchestra of the Mint. We had not had the opportunity to hear this great American leader a long time. He had directed the production of La Bohème in 1983 and a concert Brahms / Mendelssohn in 1994. He is assisted by Peter Tomek ° which provide two representations.

American tenor Jeffrey Francis knows the role of the Podestà he sang most recently in Prague and Vienna

. At the Mint, he interpreted Armidoro (The Stellidaura vendicante), Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) and Arbat (Mitridate, re di Ponto).
Sandrine Piau tackles a new role with the character of Sandrina. French soprano began at the Mint in the role of Asteria in a concert version of Tamerlano in 2000. She returned to Pamina, Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) and Melisande (Pelleas and Melisande), an early role in 2008.Slovak soprano Simona Saturova *, who performed Ilia (Idomeneo) last season, returns alternating with Sandrine Piau.
Jeremy Ovenden made its debut as Belfiore. The English tenor had sung notably Jupiter(Semele) in 2009 at the Mint
. Alternating with Jeremy Ovenden, the young English tenor Andrew Staples *, Simona Saturova who like singing in the production of Prague made its debut at the Mint.
Henriette Bonde-Hansen made her debut in the role of Arminda. At the Mint, after the title role of Zaide, the soprano sang a Danish Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos, the Voce dal Cielo (Don Carlos), one of Zaubermädchen Klingsor (Parsifal) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart) .
Stella Doufexis also tackles a new role with Ramiro. Mezzo-soprano Greco-German began at the Monnaie in Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte) and returned in 2008 for a recital of BrahmsLiebesliederwalzer.
Two newcomers to the Mint the young Czech soprano Katerina Knezikova Plachetkainterpret and Adam and Roberto Serpette respectively, two characters they already embodied in Prague.
French actress Mireille Mosse returned to the Mint to interpret Amor, a role she created in the original staging
.

Musical Director – John Nelson / Peter Tomek ° Director – Karl-Ernst & Ursel Herrmann Sets, costumes and lighting – Karl-Ernst Herrmann Symphony Mint Pianoforte – Inge Spinette			Don Anchises, Podestà di Lagonero – Jeffrey Francis The Marchesa Violante Onesti (Sandrina) –Sandrine Piau / Simona Šaturová * It Contino Belfiore – Jeremy Ovenden /Andrew Staples * Arminda – Henriette Bonde-Hansen Il Cavaliere Ramiro – Stella Doufexis Pruning knife – Kateřina Kněžíková Roberto (Nardo) – Adam Plachetka … – Mireille Mosse
	PERFORMANCES | 15, 17 *, 18, 22 *, 23, 25, 29 ° & 30 ° * March 2011 – 19:00 13, 20 & 27 March 2011 – 15:00De Munt | Mint Production The National Theatre in Prague after the original production of the Mint in 1986 With the support of Belgacom