The work is lighthearted and meant to be funny. Some of the characters in the story are Turkish. Turkish stories and music were very popular at that time in Europe, and Mozart writes some Turkish music (or what Europeans thought was Turkish music) in this opera. Some of the arias are very difficult to sing, especially the long "Martern aller Arten" ("Tortures of all kinds") sung by Konstanze, which is like a concerto movement. She is accompanied in this aria by an orchestra and four solo instruments.