Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
- Plot Summary
- Introduction
- I Mozart's Compositional Methods: A Study of the Autograph Score
- II The ‘School for Lovers’: An Enigma Revealed?
- III Mozart's Revisions for Vienna and Prague
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1: The First Phase of Copying
- Appendix 2: Hypothetical Recitative Sequences
- Appendix 3: The Bifoliation Numbers of Act II
- Appendix 4: The Two Sisters Problem
- Appendix 5: Page- and Line-break Analysis
- Appendix 6: Corrections to Guardasoni's 1791 Prague Libretto
- Appendix 7: Small Musical Changes (and Non-changes) in C1
- Appendix 8: A Layer of Revisions in V1 for an Unknown Italian Production
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Singers and their Arias
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
- Plot Summary
- Introduction
- I Mozart's Compositional Methods: A Study of the Autograph Score
- II The ‘School for Lovers’: An Enigma Revealed?
- III Mozart's Revisions for Vienna and Prague
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1: The First Phase of Copying
- Appendix 2: Hypothetical Recitative Sequences
- Appendix 3: The Bifoliation Numbers of Act II
- Appendix 4: The Two Sisters Problem
- Appendix 5: Page- and Line-break Analysis
- Appendix 6: Corrections to Guardasoni's 1791 Prague Libretto
- Appendix 7: Small Musical Changes (and Non-changes) in C1
- Appendix 8: A Layer of Revisions in V1 for an Unknown Italian Production
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
It is a fair assumption that Mozart expected to be in contact with his singers during the process of aria composition. In a famous passage concerning a piece he was composing for the singer Anton Raaff, he wrote:
I asked him to tell me candidly if he did not like his aria or if it did not suit his voice, adding that I would alter it if he wished or even compose another one. ‘God forbid’, he said, ‘the aria must remain just as it is, for nothing could be finer. But please shorten it a little, for I am no longer able to sustain my notes.’ ‘Most gladly’, I replied, ‘as much as you like. I made it a little long on purpose, for it is always easy to cut down, but not so easy to lengthen.’ … When I took leave of him he thanked me most cordially, while I assured him that I would arrange the aria in such a way that it would give him pleasure to sing it. For I like an aria to fit a singer as perfectly as a well-made suit of clothes.
In his letters Mozart made detailed appraisals of several of his singers, and it is clear that he studied carefully the strengths, weaknesses and vocal characteristics of anyone for whom he wrote. In Raaff 's case, he noted with approval several positive features, such as his impressive diction and good breath control.
In order to ensure that the singer was happy with what he had written, Mozart’s usual practice was to run through an aria with its performer before committing himself to a conclusion, leaving open the possibility of lengthening or abbreviating the piece. In several arias in Così, there is in fact a break in the ink colour of the particella shortly before the end of the singer's material. Conceptually, such a draft would be more open-ended than, for example, an aria particella which merely lacked its final orchestral ritornello. After glancing through the draft or trying it out with the composer accompanying at the keyboard, a troublesome singer might reject the proposed aria entirely, in which case Mozart would be left with several sheets of paper, lightly scored but unusable.
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- Information
- Mozart's Così fan tutteA Compositional History, pp. 42 - 56Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008