Concert aria

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Concert arias are secular vocal pieces for the concert hall or for festive occasions, primarily from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which are accompanied by an orchestra . Most of the concert arias still performed today are by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .

definition

In contrast to opera arias , they are not part of a full-length work, but are used to loosen up concert programs or to represent the bravura of a singer. While the art song usually represents the setting of a poem with harpsichord or piano accompaniment , a lyrical form, the concert aria definitely contains theatrical aspects and depicts an emotional conflict or an outbreak of feeling, a dramatic form. This also results in the contrast to the church cantata , which, as a declaration of piety, is always in relation to God and therefore largely dispenses with exalted outbursts (but not necessarily with virtuosity). In terms of genre, the concert aria stands between the Italian cantata and opera seria .

As a rule, concert arias consist of an accompagnato recitative and the actual aria. Their length corresponds roughly to the most extensive and most elaborate arias or scenes for prima donna or primo uomo in contemporary opera seria (ie approx. 8-12 minutes for Mozart, slightly longer in the 19th century). However, there are also shorter concert arias without accompaniment, such as B. Mozart's Take my thanks, you dear patrons (KV 383), a farewell aria that addresses the audience directly and with thanks; some also have a humorous buffo character, like Mozart's I would like to be the emperor (KV 539). Usually concert arias were composed for a certain singer personality and their vocal possibilities, similar to the opera. There is a certain problem of delimitation to the so-called insert aria, which was written as a replacement for an already existing aria of an opera.

history

In the 17th century, the secular solo cantata mostly developed through poems on mythological themes, initially in Italy (e.g. by Carissimi , Stradella , Alessandro Scarlatti , Caldara and others), later also in Germany - with examples from Reinhard Keizer , Handel , Hasse u. a. Some of these cantatas had orchestral accompaniment and can therefore be regarded as direct forerunners of the concert aria, such as B. Hasses La scusa on a text by Metastasio . Such orchestral cantatas were composed well into the 19th century, a well-known example, which is sometimes viewed as a concert aria, is Haydn's Scena di Berenice (1795), Hob.XXIVa: 10, which he performed for Brigida Banti as an insert in a concert in London wrote where u. a. and symphonies from him and concertante instrumental works were heard. In such (often very long) concerts not only concert arias but also 'real' opera arias were performed.

On the other hand, there were arias that were conceived as individual pieces and not for the larger framework of opera, oratorio or cantata, an example of this are Handel's German Arias (HWV 202-210), which, however, were for a chamber music Occupation are intended.

Since the Baroque it has been a common practice to compose insert arias as an insert into the opera of another composer if the original aria did not suit a new performer. Reasons for this could be a different vocal range or different vocal technical possibilities - that is, that a singer was either more virtuoso or not virtuoso enough - sometimes you wanted to modernize an older opera with new arias.

Beyond that, the probably first original concert arias come from Johann Christian Bach , who took appropriate passages from Metastasio's libretti , set them to music and had them performed independently. Bach used in his concert arias e.g. Sometimes also unusual solo instruments such as fortepiano , 2 violoncellos or horns . Apart from the rare exceptions with a piano as a solo instrument (see also Mozart's Ch'io mi scordi di te - Non temer, amato bene (KV 505)) and a few other examples, there is basically no clearly definable formal difference between one Interlude and a concert aria, and in purely theoretical terms it was conceivable, especially in the 18th century, that a concert aria based on a text by Metastasio could have been used both in a concert and in the corresponding opera from which the text came can. Just as, conversely, you could have sung a popular aria from an opera in a concert (which has also happened and still occurs today, see above).

Aloysia Weber
Nancy Storace
Josepha showerk

Mozart composed a large number of concert arias, often also based on Metastasio, mostly tailor-made for preferred singers like Aloysia Weber , Josepha Duschk or Nancy Storace . Some of these arias are real bravura arias, especially those for Aloysia Weber, in which Mozart often uses the full range of her voice from c to three-stroke g (e.g. Popoli di Tessaglia - Io non chiedo (KV 316) and Mia speranza adorata - Ah, non sai, qual pena sia (KV 416)). Altogether, Mozart wrote almost fifty individual arias, most of them for female voices, especially soprano, but also for male singers, both castrati and tenor and bass voices . However, these include many arias for operas by other composers and arias that have been composed afterwards for their own operas - it is not even known in all cases whether an aria was intended as an aria or 'only' for a concert. In addition, early arias, which he wrote in childhood and adolescence, were probably an important exercise in composition and also served as a demonstration of his abilities with regard to an opera commission.

The young Beethoven also wrote a concert aria for the Duschk, which Mozart's treacherous aria Bella mia fiamma - Resta, o cara a prima vista had correctly interpreted. Beethoven's concert aria with a duration of 12 to 14 minutes consists of a recitative Ah! perfido by Pietro Metastasio and the actual aria Per pietà, non dirmi addio , and describes the anguish of the soul of a woman who has just been abandoned. The work bears the opus number 65 and is said to have premiered in Leipzig in autumn 1796. Neither the dedicatee, Countess Josephine de Clary, nor the young Josephine Killitschky , who took over the Vienna premiere at short notice in 1808, could manage the vocal part. The work sank into oblivion until it was presented in the concert hall and on record by a number of well-known opera singers in the 1950s - including Gré Brouwenstijn , Astrid Varnay , Elisabeth Schwarzkopf , Inge Borkh and Birgit Nilsson . Maria Callas recorded the aria in the 1960s, followed by Janet Baker , Montserrat Caballé , Gundula Janowitz , Gwyneth Jones , Cheryl Studer and Christiane Karg . The work enjoys continued popularity today with interpreters and the public.

There is also at least one concert aria by a composer, Io d'amor, oh Dio, mi moro by Fanny Hensel , also with a text by Metastasio.

In terms of music history, the concert arias were largely replaced by orchestral songs , first created by Hector Berlioz , with Gustav Mahler as their most important representative, towards the middle of the 19th century . At the same time, the concert aria genre continued to exist, for example with Alban Berg's setting of texts by Charles Baudelaire , Der Wein , from 1929.

Famous concert arias (selection)

In chronological order.

  • Johann Christian Bach : Ebben, si vada , for soprano, oboe, fortepiano & orchestra
  • Johann Christian Bach: Sentimi non partir , for soprano, 2 cellos, fortepiano & orchestra
  • Johann Christian Bach: Sventurata, in van mi legno , for soprano, 2 horns & orchestra
  • Mozart : Va, dal furor portata (KV 21), text from Metastasios Ezio , London 1765; Mozart's first concert or interlude (?) aria.
  • Mozart: Ah, lo previdi - Ah, t'invola agl'occhi miei (KV 272), written for Josepha Duschk , dedicated to Aloysia Weber
Fanny Hensel
Ludwig von Beethoven
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Mozart: Alcandro lo confesso - Non sò donde viene (KV 294), for Aloysia Weber.
  • Mozart: Popoli di Tessaglia - Io non chiedo (KV 316), for Aloysia Weber.
  • Mozart: Take my thanks (KV 383) for a benefit concert by Aloysia Weber (1782).
  • Mozart: Mia speranza adorata - Ah, non sai, qual pena sia (KV 416), for Aloysia Weber.
  • Mozart: Ch'io mi scordi di te - Non temer, amato bene (KV 505), written for Nancy Storace , and with a solo piano part that Mozart wrote for himself.
  • Mozart: Bella mia fiamma - Resta, o cara (KV 528), written for Josepha Duschk
  • Mozart: I would like to be the Kaiser (KV 539), for Friedrich Baumann, premiered on March 7th, 1788.
  • Mozart: Chi sà, chi sà, qual sia (KV 582), insert aria for Vicente Martín y Soler's Da Ponte opera Il burbero di buon cuore
  • Beethoven : Ah! perfido (1796), op. 65, written for Josepha Duschk, dedicated to Josephine von Clary-Aldringen
  • Carl Maria von Weber : Recitative and Rondo Il momento s'avvicina , op.16 J. 93 (1810)
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Misera me! , op. 50 J. 121 (1811), scene and aria of the Atalia
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Non paventar mia vita (1815), scene and aria from Ines de Castro , for Helene Harlas
  • Schubert : Vedi quanto t'adoro ancora, ingrato , D. 510 (1816, based on a text by Metastasio), with piano accompaniment
  • Arriaga : Erminia (1821-26), after Tasso
  • Mendelssohn Bartholdy : Infelice! Già dal mio sguardo op. 94 (1832/1834, rev. 1843), originally for Maria Malibran and her lover, the violinist Charles de Bériot , but only performed in 1834 and 1836 by Maria Caradori-Allen and JD Loder.
  • Hensel : Io d'amor, oh Dio, mi moro (1835) HU 279
  • Künneke : Selene to Endymion (1917), text by Wilhelm Alfred Imperatori
  • Krenek : Monologue of Stella , concert aria for soprano and orchestra op.57a (1928)
  • Berg : Der Wein , concert aria with orchestra (1929), based on the eponymous cycle of poems from Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire in the German translation by Stefan George
  • Egk : Chanson and Romance du Comte Olinos (1953), written for Pierrette Alarie
  • Rihm : Concert aria Telepsychogramm (1975, WP 1989) for mezzo-soprano and large orchestra
  • Henze : Two concert arias for tenor and small orchestra (1991), in memoriam Friedrich K. Wanek
  • Trojahn : O nott ', o dolce tempo , for tenor and orchestra (1995)
  • Schubert / Thomas Pernes : The Shepherd on the Rock , orchestral version by Thomas Pernes (2002; i.e. the original piece is not a concert aria (!), But a song (or a scene) for voice, clarinet and piano)

Today's performance practice

Concert arias can be heard regularly in orchestral concerts in classical concert halls, for example at the Proms in London. A not atypical compilation is that of a concert by the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic conducted by Marc Minkowski with Marlis Petersen as the soloist, which took place in April 2017 at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt: three concert arias, one each by Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, and then Haydn's Symphony No. 104 in D major, Hob. I: 104. Almost every year Mozart's concert arias can be found in the programs of the Mozart matinees at the Salzburg Festival , where they are usually given after an introductory orchestral work and before a final symphony. There are also special concert programs and CD releases that consist exclusively of concert arias , for example the album SCENE! by Christiane Karg , published by Berlin Classics in 2015. Concert and opera arias are often combined, as in Diana Damrau's Mozart recording with the Cercle de l'Harmonie under Jérémie Rhorer .

In 1992 the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her group Rosas created the dance evening Un moto di gioia , the music of which was composed exclusively from Mozart's concert arias. The project was shown in several European cities and in New York, in 2006 at the Theater an der Wien .

literature

  • HC Robbins Landon: Joseph Haydn - His life in pictures and documents . Verlag Fritz Molden, Vienna et al., 1981.
  • HC Robbins Landon (Ed.): "Chapter X: The Work -… Song and Orchestra", in: The Mozart Compendium - his life his music , Droemer Knaur, Munich 1991, pp. 374–382.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete concert arias for soprano , Breitkopf Urtext, ed. by Juliane Banse and Franz Beyer , piano reductions in three volumes (I: Early Works (up to KV 119), II: Medium Works (up to KV 486a), III: Late Works, interludes and arias composed afterwards for your own operas (KV 418 to KV 583 ))
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concert Arias for Tenor , ed. by Thomas Seedorf , edited by Christian Beyer , piano reductions, ISMN 9790006541331
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concert Arias for Bass , ed. by Thomas Seedorf, edited by Christian Beyer, piano reductions, ISMN 9790006541348

CD tips

  • Johann Christian Bach & WA Mozart: Concert Arias . Hjördis Thebault, Hiroko Kouda, Gustav Belacek, Ensemble Solamente Naturali, Didier Talpain, Brilliant Classics 2009.
  • Mendelssohn's Infelice! on the CD: Maria - Cecilia Bartoli (arias, among others for Maria Malibran), with Orchestra La Scintilla, Adam Fischer, Decca, 2007.
  • Mozart: The Concert Arias - The Concert Arias - Les Airs de Concert (5 CDs). With Kiri Te Kanawa , Edita Gruberová , Teresa Berganza , Krisztina Laki , Elfriede Hobarth, Gösta Winbergh , Dietrich Fischer Dieskau , Fernando Corena u. a. (Compilation from recordings from 1960, 1970, 1981, 1985). Decca, London, 1997.
  • Mozart: Concert Arias . Edita Gruberová , Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, originally: Teldec 1992; later: elatus / Warner-classics 2003 (live concert recording).
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Airs de Concert . Natalie Dessay , Orchester de l'Opéra de Lyon, Theodor Guschlbaur, EMI-Classics 1995.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl Heinrich Wörner: History of Music: A Study and Reference Book , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993, p. 318
  2. ↑ Konrad Küster : On the importance of early secondary tradition in Mozart's work, observations on the concert and insert arias , in: Jürgen Heidrich, Hans Joachim Marx, Ulrich Konrad: Musikalische Quellen, Quellen zur Musikgeschichte , Festschrift for Martin Staehelin on his 65th birthday, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2002, pp. 315–328
  3. ↑ The subtitle reads: "Cantata composta per la Signora Banti in Antigono di Pietro Metastasio". HC Robbins Landon and Christopher Hogwood: Texts for the CD: Joseph Haydn - Arias & Cantatas , with Arleen Auger, Handel and Haydn Society, Christopher Hogwood, 1990/2005, pp. 3 & 9-10. See also: HC Robbins Landon: Joseph Haydn - His life in pictures and documents . Verlag Fritz Molden, Wien et al., 1981, pp. 144-145 & 216.
  4. ↑ See the CD: Johann Christian Bach & WA Mozart: Concert Arias . Hjördis Thebault, Hiroko Kouda, Gustav Belacek, Ensemble Solamente Naturali, Didier Talpain, Brilliant Classics 2009.
  5. ↑ An explanatory text and a detailed list of all works with the time of origin, text source, scoring and original singers is provided by: HC Robbins Landon (ed.): "Chapter X: Das Werk -… Gesang und Orchester", in: Das Mozart-Kompendium - his life his music , Droemer Knaur, Munich 1991, pp. 374–382.
  6. ↑ HC Robbins Landon (ed.): "Chapter X: Das Werk -… Gesang und Orchester", in: Das Mozart Compendium - his life his music , Droemer Knaur, Munich 1991, pp. 374–382, here: p . 374, and 377-382 (list of all arias).
  7. ↑ The three-volume edition of his concert arias for soprano comprises 33 titles. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete concert arias for soprano , Breitkopf Urtext, ed. by Juliane Banse and Franz Beyer , piano reductions in three volumes (I: Early Works (up to KV 119), II: Medium Works (up to KV 486a), III: Late Works, interludes and arias composed for your own operas (KV 418 to KV 583 ))
  8. ↑ HC Robbins Landon (ed.): "Chapter X: Das Werk -… Gesang und Orchester", in: Das Mozart Compendium - his life, his music , Droemer Knaur, Munich 1991, pp. 374–382.
  9. ↑ Also: HC Robbins Landon (ed.): "Chapter X: Das Werk -… Gesang und Orchester", in: Das Mozart-Kompendium - seine Leben seine Musik , Droemer Knaur, Munich 1991, pp. 374–382. , here: p. 375 and 377.
  10. ↑ Idagio: "Ah perfido!", Concert aria op. 65 , accessed on January 19, 2018
  11. ↑ Learning aid: orchestral song , accessed on November 15, 2017
  12. ↑ HC Robbins Landon (ed.): "Chapter X: Das Werk -… Gesang und Orchester", in: Das Mozart Compendium - his life his music , Droemer Knaur, Munich 1991, pp. 374–382., Here: Pp. 375 and 377.
  13. ↑ Booklet text for CD: Maria - Cecilia Bartoli (arias, inter alia, for Maria Malibran), with Orchestra La Scintilla, Adam Fischer, Decca, 2007, pp. 100–101
  14. ^ Esterhazy: concert arias by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven ; Concert announcement for April 22, 2017
  15. ^ The Guardian (London): Christiane Karg: Scene! review - her bright soprano has a metallic gleam , June 25, 2015
  16. ^ Rolf Michaelis : Eine kleine Tanzmusik , Die Zeit (Hamburg), December 3, 1993