The first part of the sacred singspiel Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, which was first performed in the Knights’ Hall of the Archbishop of Salzburg’s Palace on 12 March 1767, represents Mozart’s first extended dramatic work. He was eleven years old when he wrote it. Even without making allowances for the composer’s remarkable youth, Mozart’s music for the first part of Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots is highly accomplished, full of descriptive flair and artistry. The allegorical figures of Barmherzigkeit and Gerechtigkeit are clearly differentiated, the former’s sympathetic compassion contrasting with the latter’s more matronly severity, while Weltgeist’s carefree hedonism is given full reign in arias of considerable virtuosity and difficulty.