Mozart’s Real Anti-Islamic Operas

Joshua Kosman points out that Idomeneo is a strange opera to be causing such a storm of controversy. In fact, the scene giving such offense was inserted by a director looking to stir the pot, and has nothing to do with Mozart. “The irony is that there are a handful of familiar operas, including two that are performed regularly as part of the standard repertoire, that have anti-Muslim sentiment — or at least comedic disrespect — built into their very DNA.”