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Mozart uses musical characterization to distinguish upper from lower class, and Turkish from European.
Belmonte (Tenor) – Noble Belmonte’s music is lyrical and full of classic ornaments. Its smooth melodic line is accompanied by pleasant harmonies and rhythms. Belmonte’s foil is the more forceful “Turkish” chracter of Osmin. Mozart’s comic heroes tend to be tenors.
Pedrillo (Tenor) – Pedrillo, a European servant, sings European folk-style music accompanied by plucked strings.
Konstanze (Soprano) – Konstanze’s music is characterized by a loftiness of form and style, implying a higher social and even moral status. Konstanze’s major aria comes at the moment in the plot where she is at her most morally righteous as she resists the advances of the Pasha: she loves Belmonte and will not let this love be violated. It is fitting, then, that her aria has a much more formal and intimidating sound in the style of arias from more serious operas, such as Mozart’s own Idomeneo (1781).
 Blonde (Soprano) – Blonde’s music has a genuinely sweet quality to it. It lacks the formality of Konstanze’s singing, as Blonde is Konstanze’s servant. Comical, appealing, and approachable, her music provides a dynamic contrast in duets with the buffoon Osmin.
Osmin (Bass) – Osmin is the epitome of Mozart’s alla turca (“Turkish style”) composition, especially since he is the only Turkish character with significant singing. Mozart was careful to set Osmin’s music in a way that highlighted the comedy of Osmin’s angry moments. His music is much less lyrical than Belmonte’s, with a rhythmic pulse and repeated sung notes.
Pasha Selim (spoken) – Music theorists and historians have come up with some complicated explanations for the Pasha as a spoken role, mixing everything from politics in Mozart’s day to Turkish stereotypes. The simplest explanation is that this is how the earlier opera by André and Bretzner set the Pasha character. Mozart was probably too much of a perfectionist for this to be a satisfactory explanation, however. Perhaps by having the Pasha speak instead of sing, Mozart avoided the question of how to compose for a character who was upper-class yet Turkish.
— Clare McNamara, Education Intern
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