"Bella mia fiamma, addio", K. 528, is a

concert aria A concert aria is normally a free-standing aria or opera-like scene (''scena'') composed for singer and orchestra, written specifically for performance in concert rather than as part of an opera. Concert arias have often been composed for particula ...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

for solo

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and orchestra, composed in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1787. The text of this aria is taken from the 1772 opera ''Cerere placata'', composed by

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...

with text by . The aria was published by

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

in 1881.

Description

Sung by the character Titano, the aria is marked andante, then allegro, and consists of 196 bars in the key of

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

. The

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

reaches from D to A with a

tessitura In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or character ...

of D to G. A typical performance lasts for around ten minutes. The aria contains

bravura In classical music a bravura is a style of both music and its performance intended to show off the skill of a performer. John Alexander Fuller-Maitland, ''A dictionary of music and musicians (A.D. 1450-1889)'p. 271-272/ref> Commonly, it is a virt ...

writing with difficult

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...

passages. The aria part of the work calls for a

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, two

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

s, two

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s, two

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

s and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. The time signature for the

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

, then for the aria proper triple metre.

History

Composed in Prague, dated 3 November 1787, the aria was dedicated to its original singer,

Josepha Duschek Josepha Duschek (née Hambacher) (1754–1824) was an outstanding soprano of the Classical era. She was a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote a few works for her to sing. Her name is most often given in its German version as above. I ...

, for whom Mozart previously wrote the aria "

Ah, lo previdi "Ah, lo previdi!” – “Ah, t’invola” – “Deh, non varcar", K. 272, is a concert aria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for solo soprano and orchestra, one of Mozart's first large-scale operatic concert pieces. Description Sung by the charac ...

", K. 272, in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

. The composition of this aria was somewhat unusual; the following tale is attributed to Mozart's son Karl Thomas: Librarian Bernard Wilson, commenting on the story, adds: "There seems to be some corroboration of this account in the aria itself. The words ''Quest' affano, questo passo è terribile per me'' (mm. 27–34) are set to an awesome tangle of chromatic sequences artfully calculated to test the singer's sense of intonation and powers of interpretation. Apparently Mme. Duschek survived the ''passo terribile'', since the

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...

bears her name in Mozart's hand."Wilson, Bernard E. (1974) "Review of ''Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Serie II: Bühnenwerke, Werkgruppe 7: Arien, Szenen, Ensembles, und Chöre mit Orchester, Band 4''". In ''

Notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * Notes (album), ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) sho ...

'', 2nd Ser., vol. 30, no. 4. (June 1974), pp. 856–857. In 1789, Duschek sang the work along with other arias at concerts given by Mozart in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

during his Berlin journey of that year.

Text

''Recitativo'' Bella mia fiamma, addio! Non piacque al cielo di renderci felici. Ecco reciso, prima d'esser compito, quel purissimo nodo, che strinsero fra lor gl'animi nostri con il solo voler. Vivi: Cedi al destin, cedi al dovere. Della giurata fede la mia morte t'assolve. A più degno consorte ... O pene! unita vivi più lieta e più felice vita. Ricordati di me, ma non mai turbi d'un felice sposo la rara rimembranza il tuo riposo. Regina, io vado ad ubbidirti Ah, tutto finisca il mio furor col morir mio. Cerere, Alfeo, diletta sposa, addio! ''Aria'' ''(to Proserpina):'' Resta, o cara, acerba morte mi separa, Oh Dio ... da te! ''(to Cerere):'' Prendi cura di sua sorte, consolarla almen procura. ''(to Alfeo):'' Vado ... ahi lasso! Addio, addio per sempre. Quest'affanno, questo passo è terribile per me. Ah! Dov'è il tempio, dov'è l'ara? ''(To Cerere):'' Vieni, affretta la vendetta! Questa vita così amara più soffribile non è! ''(To Proserpina):'' Oh cara, addio per sempre! Light of my life farewell! Heaven has not planned for our happiness. Those pure strands were snapped before out knot of happiness could be bound by our spirit in a single will. Live, and submit to fate and your duty. My death absolves you from your promises. United to a better partner (Oh grief!) You will have a better, happier life. Remember me, but do not be disturbed by thoughts of unhappy former lover. My Queen, I leave you and death will end my ravings.

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

, Alpheus, beloved heart, goodbye. Stay my beloved A cruel death takes me from you, Oh God! Look after her Comfort her. I go, alas, farewell farewell forever. This distressing situation is hard to bear. Where is the temple, where is the altar? Come revenge, be quick This bitter life Can be borne no longer. Goodbye forever!

References

External links

* *
Italian and English text

Notes
by Ian Page, 2017 * ,

Cecilia Bartoli Cecilia Bartoli, Cavaliere OMRI (; born 4 June 1966) is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best known for her interpretations of the music of Bellini, Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Vivaldi, as well as for her ...

Concentus Musicus Wien Concentus Musicus Wien (CMW) is an Austrian baroque music ensemble based in Vienna. The CMW is recognized as a pioneer of the period-instrument performance movement. History Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Alice Harnoncourt co-founded the CMW in 1953 ...

, conductor

Nikolaus Harnoncourt Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music ...

* ,

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...

Vienna Chamber Orchestra The Vienna Chamber Orchestra (Wiener Kammer Orchester, or WKO) is an Austrian chamber orchestra based at the Vienna Konzerthaus. History The WKO was founded in 1946, and its first artistic directors were Franz Litschauer, Heinrich Hollreiser, Pa ...

, conductor György Fischer {{Authority control Arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Soprano arias 1787 compositions Music dedicated to family or friends Compositions in C major Ceres (mythology)