Un moto di gioia K579 (1789)

Like “Voi che sapete,” the other Mozart aria in this programme, “Un moto di gioia” (A thrill of joy) was written for Le Nozze di Figaro but, unlike “Voi che sapete,” it did not feature in the first performance in 1876. It was composed specially for Adriana Gabrieli who took over the part of Susanna in a revival of the opera in Vienna three years later. Rather shorter than Venite inginocchiatevi, the aria it replaced, it is scarcely less successful in reflecting the charm and vivacity of the character who sings it..

Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liehabers verbrannte K520 (1787)

An Chloe K.524 (1787)

Abendempfindung an Laura K.523 (17887)

To pass from Un moto di gioia to Abendempfindung is to cover the whole distance between opera and Lied. The first item is an arietta written to replace Susanna’s Venite inginocchiatevi when Le nozze di Figaro was revived with a new cast in Vienna in 1789. Half-way between opera and song, Als Luise is a miniature scena so liberal in its use of operatic devices and dramatic minor harmonies that it could almost be a private joke between the composer and his friend Gottfried von Jacquin, the amateur singer to whom it is dedicated. The irrepressibly cheerful An Chloe was written on the same day as the deeply serious Abendempfindung - which is an argument against the attractive theory that the elegiac mood of the latter song reflects the composer’s feelings on the recent death of his father. Through-composed and thoroughly spontaneous both in the freely melodious inflections of the vocal line and in the unpredictable directions taken by the harmonies in the atmospheric piano part, Abendempfindung an Laura is an inspired anticipation of the romantic Lied.