"A se a morir mi chiama" (from Lucio Silla)
For soprano with 2 oboes, 2 horns in Eb, and strings
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Mozart, still in his mid-teens, was commissioned to write his opera Lucio Silla for the opening of the carnival season in Milan at the end of 1772. He was contracted to compose and send the recitatives in advance but to come to Milan to write the arias, so that he could get to know the singers. The celebrated castrato Venanzio Rauzzini was hired for the leading role of Cecilio, and the effervescent arias that Mozart wrote for him suggest how impressed he was with his primo uomo.
The aria "Ah se a morir mi chiama" comes from Act II. Giunia has been threatened by the dictator Lucio Silla, who wants to marry her, and she fears for the safety of her true lover Cecilio, who has secretly returned from exile. She rushes to Cecilio and begs him to flee. In parting, Cecilio sings this beautiful aria assuring her that he will be faithful to her even in death. The aria is in A-B-A form. Whether Rauzzini ornamented the repeat or even the opening section is not known, but a highly ornamented version of this aria survives in the hand of Mozart's sister Nannerl. Whether the ornaments are by Mozart himself or by someone else, they show the freedoms that performers could sometimes take with this music.
Boston Baroque Performances
“A se a morir mi chiama” (from Lucio Silla)
May 7 & 8, 2010
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Michael Maniaci, soprano
