Mozart Magic: November 19, 2016

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(Born in Salzburg in 1756; died in Vienna in 1791)
No composer has contributed so many works of genius, in so many genres of music, as Mozart: sacred, chamber, concerti, orchestral and opera. His output is extraordinary, not only because of its quantity and consistently high quality, but also because of his uncanny ability to assimilate the styles of his time and add his own innovations. It sounds cliché to say that Mozart approached something of a superhuman quality, but studying his music always provides this same awed assessment. No genre stands out quite as much as Mozart’s operas in style assimilation, masterwork and innovation.
Opera in Mozart’s Vienna was a curiously Italian affair. Opera had essentially “grown up” in Italy and Italians had set the standards. But the popular style was Italian Opera buffa – light-hearted and frivolous dramatic works. Viennese sentiment was beginning to favor German-language opera but German operas hadn’t made much headway in quality. Nonetheless, as Mozart told his father in 1778, he first began with “Italian, not German; seria, not buffa.” Thus commenced his lifelong adaptations in the field of opera, beginning with the Italian model for opera seria “serious themed,” moving to the German model of the singspiel (“singing play”), where dialogue replaces the Italian recitative, creating a delicious synthesis of these models.
All of this, and Mozart’s musical genius, created an opus of operas that are nearly all considered masterpieces. Mozart brought a rather stodgy genre that he inherited from the Italians into a modern day kind of storytelling, with characters that were more real and current, and with music that matched the complicated psychological underpinnings of his characters.

Overture to Le nozze di Figaro 
(The Marriage of Figaro)

This was the first of three operas that Mozart wrote in collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. This collaboration shines as a marriage of geniuses in Western music; it produced Le nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787) and Così fan tutte (1790), all of which are considered the pinnacle of their Classical genre. Many regard Le nozze as the greatest Opera buffa ever written.

Created near the peak of his career, Le nozze di Figaro is one of Mozart’s finest scores. In it, his ability to make music mirror the psychological essence of the scene, the story and the characters is nearly unrivaled. The Overture is a self-contained work – meaning it contains essentially little of the themes from the opera proper and ends without fading into the first scene. It’s a marvel of fleetness. The winds and strings open with a frenetic but quiet, whirling motive that sets the tone for the opera to come – fast-paced and filled with intrigue and humor. The whirling is suddenly interrupted by a full tutti of the orchestra, bright and shining and loud, with trumpets and timpani that tells us the opera will bring a series of surprises and comic moments. The energy never lets up until the last, glorious bar.

Aria: “Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben” from the Opera Zaide

Zaide was begun in 1779-80 by Mozart in the off chance that this German language singspiel (“singing play”) might be accepted in Austrian Emperor Joseph II’s new opera company that was devoted to German opera. Mozart’s working title was Das Serail, but the Third Act and Overture were left unfinished as he moved on to his first commissioned opera, Idomeneo. Decades after Mozart’s death, the unfinished opera was prepared for production in 1830 and given the title it’s come to be known by: Zaide.

Having found a librettist in Johann Schachtner, Mozart’s Zaide took up the popular theme of Turkish pirates on the prowl in the Mediterranean, seizing loot and Christian slaves. Zaide is the heroine Christian slave who falls in love with another slave, Gomatz. The Turkish Sultan is enraged because of his own affections for Zaide, but by the end of Act II, Zaide chooses a free life with Gomatz.

“Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben” (“Rest gently, my dearest life (Beloved)”) appears in Act I when Zaide first discovers Gomatz, asleep under a tree. She instantly falls in love, and leaves him her portrait, jewels, money and a note beseeching him to meet her later in that same spot. She then sings this beautiful aria to the would-be lover, telling him to sleep until he awakes with happiness. It’s one of Mozart’s most beautiful arias and is especially remarkable given that this is such an early foray for him into full opera writing.

German Lyrics
Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben,
schlafe, bis dein Glück erwacht;
da, mein Bild will ich dir geben,
schau, wie freundlich es dir lacht:
Ihr süssen Träume, wiegt ihn ein,
und lasset seinem Wunsch am Ende
die wollustreichen Gegenstände
zu reifer Wirklichkeit gedeihn
English translation

Rest peacefully, my beloved,
Sleep until happiness dawns,
My portrait I give you,
See, how kindly it smiles upon you.
Sweet dreams rock him to sleep,
And Grant his wish at last,
That the things of which he dreams 
May ripen into reality.

Aria: “Ach, ich fuhl’s” from Die Zauberflöte 
(The Magic Flute) K. 620

The Magic Flute premiered in 1791. It is Mozart’s last opera, and in so many ways his crowning achievement in the genre. All of this great composer’s talents are on display in this masterpiece. The story takes place in Egypt, sometime around 1300 BC, and centers upon Tamino, a handsome young prince on a quest to rescue the daughter of the evil Queen of the Night, the lovely Pamina, so he can marry her. Tamino and his comic side-kick, Papageno, are given a Magic Flute and a set of magic Bells to ward off evil. They find Pamina in the care of Sarasato, a high priest, and to their surprise discover that Sarasato is actually protecting Pamina from her mother. Seeing Tamino’s purity, Sarasato agrees to let him and Pamina marry, but only after a set of trials to test his and Papageno’s mettle and purity. Adventures succeeded, Sarasato then celebrates the marriage of Tamino to Pamina, and banishes the evil Queen and her minions.
Mozart’s score sparkles with the magic and genius of a master at play. The music is appreciable on many levels, from giddy, simple tunes to wonderfully sophisticated moments of complex counterpoint – the whole tied together with exquisite melodies. One such beautiful aria is Pamina’s aria from Act Two, “Ach, ich fuhl’s (Ah, I feel it).” Tamino has sworn a Vow of Silence as part of Sarasato’s tests of mettle, and Pamina is despairingly certain that their love is lost. The aria is heart-wrenchingly beautiful, the soprano singing over an exquisite and sophisticated chord scheme in the orchestra, sounding much like a movement from a requiem, spare, somber. It’s one of Mozart’s most remarkably heartfelt songs, with the soprano’s pathos soaring into the spirit realms.
German Text
Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden,
Ewig hin der Liebe Glück!
Nimmer kommt ihr Wonnestunde
Meinem Herzen mehr zurück!
Sieh’, Tamino, diese Tränen,
Fließen, Trauter, dir allein!
Fühlst du nicht der Liebe Sehnen,
So wird Ruh’ im Tode sein!
English Translation
Oh, I feel that it is gone,
forever gone – the happiness of love!
No more come the hours of joy
to my heart!
See, Tamino, these tears
flow, dearest, for you alone!
Do you not feel my love and longing?
I’ll only find peace in death.

Overture to Così fan tutte

The opera is one of Mozart’s great masterworks, assimilating the buffa aspects of the popular Italian opera together with serious (Opera seria) aspects, giving the drama and the music a greater depth. Mozart’s music is fun and mirthful as it often needs to be with the comic storyline, but it also captures the intrigue and emotions of the main characters in an uncanny way. One of Mozart’s lasting influences on opera was the way he molded the music to make the characters feel as real as life. This is especially true in Cosi fan tutte.

The title translates roughly, “Women are like that”, referring to a belief that all women will eventually be unfaithful. Set in Naples, two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, brag about the beauty and faithfulness of their sweethearts, sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella. However, their older friend, Don Alfonzo, wagers that the two sisters can be found to be unfaithful. A convoluted and comic set of frauds and mistruths and disguises are set into motion. In the end, all is forgiven.

The Overture has retained its own staying power. It’s a gallant and joyful speed-ride. Unlike many overtures, however, it contains virtually no melodic material from the opera, but rather, new music used to set the tone. Among its many delights, there is an abundance of woodwind work, specifically the interplay between oboe and flute which is a musical representation of two sweethearts sharing the same heart-music. In all, the Overture is a lightning quick romp of merriment.

Aria: “Come scoglio” from Così fan tutte

Così fan tutte has made listeners both delighted and yet troubled. Of course this was all by design, and that may be why the depth of both Mozart’s musical score and da Ponte’s libretto make this arguably Mozart’s greatest achievement in opera. One splendid example of this bi-polar, humorous, and extraordinary music is “Come scoglio” (“Like a rock”) in Act I sung by Fiordiligi, Ferrando’s lover. Don Alphonso has arranged for Fiordiligi and Dorabella to believe that Ferrando and Guglielmo have been called off to war suddenly. Then, dressed in disguise as two “Albanians,” Ferrando and Guglielmo return and begin wooing the other’s sweetheart. Fiordiligi, at least initially, will have nothing of it, and crows about it.

Mozart begins the aria with an almost martial call to arms – a very peacocking moment. Then comes a delightful lyrical section that is almost inane, yet so charming that it keeps us smiling. The aria switches between these two types of music with a kind of over-the-top drama. It’s a great example of the type of opera-stopping solos that permeated 18th Century opera, but the aria is simultaneously parodying them. With this brilliantly uncanny mix of bravura with lyrical charm, Mozart’s music can’t quite allow you to believe Fiordiligi’s protestations, even while she must accomplish some extremely difficult musical passages: large interval leaps, and drops and runs up and down a two-octave range. “Come scoglio” is definitely one of Mozart’s greatest hits.

Italian text
Come scoglio immoto resta
Contro i venti e la tempesta,
Così ognor quest’alma è forte
Nella fede e nell’amor.
Con noi nacque quella face
Che ci piace, e ci consola,
E potrà la morte sola
Far che cangi affetto il cor.
Rispettate, anime ingrate,
Quest’esempio di costanza;
E una barbara speranza
Non vi renda audaci ancor!
English translation
Like a rock standing impervious
To winds and tempest,
So stands my heart ever strong
In faith and love.
Between us we have kindled
A flame which warms, and consoles us,
And death alone could
Change my heart’s devotion.
Respect this example
Of constancy, you abject creatures,
And do not let a base hope
Make you so rash again!
Aria: “Dove sono” from Le nozze di Figaro
(The Marriage of Figaro)

Written near the peak of his career, Le nozze di Figaro is naturally one of Mozart’s finest scores – many consider it to be the finest Opera buffa ever written. And his ability to make music mirror the psychological essence of the scene, the story, and the characters is nearly unrivaled. One of the opera’s most beautiful and thoughtful moments occurs in Act III with the Countess’s aria “Dove sono” (“Where are they?). Here the Countess is planning to catch her husband, the Count, red-handed in faithlessness with Susanna, and she’s employed Susanna to help trap him. But in a moment of quiet reflection, she wonders where the sweetness of their love has gone, how she could find herself in such a terrible state of lovelessness and humiliation. And yet, she still holds hope with a faintness as fragile as a spider web. The beauty of the music is deeply poignant, but Mozart goes a little further. He creates a magic moment, to capture the deep suffering of the Countess, by repeating the first section at almost a whisper. The psychological effect is disarming – even in the pathos of the Countess’s soul pain, a feeble hope for reconciliation is still distantly glimmering.

Italian text
Dove sono i bei momenti
Di dolcezza e di piacer?
Dove andaro i giuramenti
Di quel labbro menzogner?
Perchè mai, se in pianti e in pene
Per me tutto si cangiò,
La memoria di quel bene
Dal mio sen non trapassò?
Ah! se almen la mia costanza,
Nel languire amando ognor,
Mi portasse una speranza
Di cangiar l’ingrato cor!
English translation
Where are the lovely moments
Of sweetness and pleasure?
Where have the promises gone
That came from those lying lips?
Why, if all is changed for me
Into tears and pain,
Has the memory of that goodness
Not vanished from my breast?
Ah! If only, at least, my faithfulness,
Which still loves amidst its suffering,
Could bring me the hope

Of changing that ungrateful heart!

Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543

1. Adagio – Allegro
2. Andante con moto
3. Minuetto – Allegretto
4. Finale – Allegro
In the summer of 1788, in just under 10 weeks’ time, Mozart wrote three of Western Music’s greatest symphonies, Numbers 39, 40 and 41 – an almost superhuman accomplishment.  Whereas the 40th and the 41st are overt in their pathos and exuberance, respectively, the 39th is the subtle delight of the trio. It is a testament to refinement, yet no less a masterpiece, and with its own daring.
The 39th sounds, on first hearing, almost textbook Classical music, but Mozart has in fact disguised its adventurousness in lightness. The slow introduction, grand and stately, promises something magnificent, but when the Allegro proper begins, the introduction’s theme continues onwards, now faster, now light and breezy. This is a bold kind of transitioning that Beethoven will take very seriously in his own symphonies. The second movement is again a model of sophistication, both in its light scoring and its handling of the deeper emotion that imbues it. On its surface, it comes to us as a tender song, but underneath is an undercurrent of pathos that is never allowed to become too passionate. In that, we might almost miss the exquisite harmonies that occur about two-thirds of the way through this lovely movement.
The Menuetto is one of Mozart’s most memorable works in that genre. Filled with grace and charm, it dances us lightly into gladness. Along the way we can especially hear Mozart’s love for the clarinet which was essentially a new instrument in his day. The Finale is an extraordinary whirling demon kept tightly cornered – flying notes dart in many directions and yet Mozart makes it sound as if it’s all just a little bit of boiling water. It’s truly a masterpiece in engaging minimalism. Brimming with fun and humor, the Finale ends in a deliciously clipped way for humor’s sake, as if the musicians turned the page at the end of a phrase and, alas, no more pages.