FELICITY LOTT SINGS MOZART

Transcription

1 Eloq uence FELICITY LOTT SINGS MOZART Exsultate, jubilate Vado, ma dove? Nehmt meinen Dank Bella mia fiamma, addio Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben Felicity Lott London Mozart Players Jane Glover

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3 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART ( ) 1 Exsultate, jubilate, KV 165 / 158a I Exsultate, jubilate II Recitative: Fulget amica dies III Aria: Tu virginum corona IV Alleluja 2 Voi avete un cor fedele, KV Vado, ma dove? oh Dei, KV Chi sà, chi sà, qual sia, KV Nehmt meinen Dank, KV Bella mia fiamma, addio, KV I Recitative: Bella mia fiamma, addio II Aria: Resta, o cara Zaide, KV 334 / 336b 7 Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (Act I) 7 19 Mitridate, rè di Ponto, KV 87 / 74c 8 Lungi da te (Act II) 8 26 with Christopher Newport, horn Felicity Lott, soprano London Mozart Players Jane Glover Total timing: 60 38

4 All his life, Mozart was fascinated by the soprano voice, generally female, but sometimes male. Besides the great arias in his operas, he composed over 40 others, either for concert use, or as insertion pieces intended for use in other composers stage works. All the best of them rank with his finest vocal music in variety of form, instrumental colour and emotion. Mozart composed the brilliant motet, Exsultate, jubilate in Milan, shortly before 16 January 1773, the date of its first performance in the Theatine church by Venanzio Rauzzini, the famous male soprano who was also a prolific composer. It is a splendidly sonorous piece, for the usual band of strings, oboes and horns, reinforced by the organ. The three-section form, Allegro / Andante / Allegro, is characteristic of the motet style then favoured in north Italy. Mozart completed Voi avete un cor fedele on 26 October 1775, in Salzburg, to a text based on Goldoni and intended as an insertion aria in Galuppi s Le nozze di Dorina. It is in a delightful buffo style, and in the form of a loose rondo, with a brilliantly florid line. Vado, ma dove?, and Chi sà, chi Sà, qual sia, are insertion arias marked Allegro, which Mozart composed in October 1789, for a revival of Martini s buffo opera Il barbero di buon cuore, a successful comic opera with text by da Ponte (after Goldoni), who also wrote the words for these extras. The singer was Louise Villeneuve, a French soprano who obviously had considerable command of coloratura. The emotion and uncertainty underlying the dramatic situation are emphasised by clever syncopations. The aria Nehmt meinen Dank is distinguished by the fact that, most unusually, the author of the text is quite unknown. The origin of the music, however, is quite certain. Mozart completed it on 10 April 1782, for Aloysia Weber, the sister of his fiancée, Constanze Weber, whom, against his father s wishes, he was to marry in the following August. Previously, Mozart had been emotionally involved (under similar parental opposition) with Aloysia. But though this came to nothing, Mozart retained his admiration for Aloysia s remarkable voice, which was high coloratura in range and quality. It is fairly certain that he composed the piece for her to sing at a farewell benefit concert in Vienna, organised, as it would appear from the text, by an unrecorded group of patrons. Despite its glitter, the music seems to lack heart, perhaps reflecting Mozart s ambivalence towards Aloysia. It is possible that da Ponte may have written the text of Bella mia fiamma addio, which Mozart finished in Prague on 3 November 1787, for the

5 virtuoso singer, Josefa Dussek. The scoring includes (as seems usual for arias of this period) only a single flute. This brilliant piece, which runs to the considerable length of 233 bars, including an impassioned recitative, has all the sweep and grandeur of Don Giovanni, completed only a few weeks earlier. Mozart apparently began his German opera, Zaïde, to a text by Johann Andreas Schactner, the Salzburg court trumpeter, in the later part of 1779, and continued to work on the piece until well into 1780, when most unfortunately he abandoned it. (The oriental setting and plot have a good deal in common with Die Entführung aus dem Serail of ) Mozart scored Ruhe sanft, a lyrical masterpiece, for oboe and bassoon soli, muted violins, and most unusually divided violas playing pizzicato. This poetic handling of the orchestra matches the warm, amorous sentiment of the text, and the music, in G major, is marked Tempo di menuetto grazioso, something very rare in any of Mozart s operas. The middle section 2/4, Andante, in C major, serves to enhance the charm of the repeat. is an extended work, with many fine arias, one of the best being Lungi da te. It is marked Adagio cantabile, scored for the modest forces of strings, oboes and ripieno horns, but decorated by a brilliant horn obbligato, one of the instrumental tours de force of Mozart s boyhood, and one which shows his extraordinary understanding of wind instruments. This is an aria of parting, sung by Xiphares (a male soprano), who is in love with Aspasia, though she is betrothed to Mithridates. Alec Hyatt King Among the marvels of Mozart s fourteenth year, the opera Mitridate has a high place. He composed it in Milan, where it was first staged at the Teatro Reggio Ducale on 26 December. It

6 Producer: Roy Emerson Engineers: Mark Vigars, Richard Hale Recording location: St. Peter's Church, Morden, UK, September 1989 Cover photograph: Felicity Lott (photo: Nic Barlow / Decca) Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-Homji Art direction: Chilu Booklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

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