In the Glyndebourne Entführung aus dem Serail from 1980, which was so amusingly and yet sensitively staged by Peter Wood, Gustav Kuhn led his excellent soloists Valerie Masterson, Ryland Davies, Lillian Watson and Willard White to an ensemble performance of great unity which was interspersed with exact and beautifully worked dialogue. The Singspiel, this hybrid of music and word, rose to life here in the most convincing fashion. The story of the lovers Konstanze and Belmonte, the two servants Blonde and Pedrillo, the pasha Selim and the mean warden Osmin, is not terribly original and would have been forgotten long ago had it not been for Mozart. On the libretto of Johann Gottlieb Stephanie he created a masterwork starting with the fervent overture, reminding of the military march music of the Janissaries, and ending up with enchanting ensemble finali.