love (Aria: "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" – "When tears of joy flow"). The two couples reunite (Quartet, Belmonte, Konstanze, Pedrillo, Blonde: "Ach Belmonte! Ach, mein Leben" – "Ah, Belmonte, ah my dear one!"). After their initial expressions of love and joy, Belmonte and Pedrillo both question anxiously whether their respective fiancees have remained faithful during their forced separation; to their delight, the women respond with indignation and dismay, and Blonde slaps Pedrillo's face. The two men apologize for their lack of confidence; the women forgive them for their offensive questions. Act 3 Belmonte and Pedrillo come to the garden with ladders (Aria, Belmonte: "Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke" – "Love, only love, can now direct me"). Pedrillo attracts the attention of the women by singing a ballad about a rescue similar to the one he is planning (Romanze, Pedrillo: "In Mohrenland gefangen war" – "In Moorish lands a maiden fair"). However, Osmin enters, sees the ladders, and rouses the castle. Osmin exults in the prospect of seeing them all hanged (Aria: "O, wie will ich triumphieren" – "My triumphant hour's approaching"). Belmonte pleads for their lives and tells Pasha Selim that his father is a Spanish Grandee and Governor of Oran, named Lostados, and will pay a generous ransom. Unfortunately, Pasha Selim and Lostados are long-standing enemies. The Pasha rejoices in the opportunity to subject his enemy's son to a horrible death. He leaves Belmonte and Konstanze to bid each other a last farewell; they lovingly assure each other that being tortured to death will be a pleasure, so long as they get tortured to death together (Duet: "Welch ein Geschick! O Qual der Seele.... Weh, du soltest für mich sterben" – "What dreadful fate conspires against us.... Woe, you will die because of me"). However, the Pasha then decides that he can make a better point against Lostados by showing mercy and releasing Belmonte and his friends. All are set at liberty – much to the dismay of Osmin (Finale: "Nie werd' ich deine Huld verkennen" – "Your noble mercy passes measure"). Recordings Adaptations The Australian Broadcasting Commission made a TV production in 1961 as the English-language The Abduction from the Seraglio, using outdoor filming in addition to the stage setting. The American post-modernist writer Donald Barthelme wrote a surreal comic short story entitled "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (published in The New Yorker in January 1978,