Mozart -Le Nozze di Figaro - 3.4 E Susanna non vien...

Le Nozze di Figaro
Opera in four acts
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
Figaro Erich Kunz
Susanna Irmgard Seefried
Il Conte d'Almaviva George London
La Contessa d'Almaviva Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Cherubino Sena Jurinac
Bartolo Marjan Rus
Marcellina Elisabeth Höngen
Don Basilio & Don Curzio Erich Majkut
Barbarina Rosl Schwaiger
Antonio Wilhelm Felden
Due ragazze Anny Felbermayer & Hilde Czeska
Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conducted by Herbert von Karajan

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The Countess ponders the wisdom of her plan to confront her dangerously volatile husband with herself dressed as Susanna. In the great aria "Dove sono" she dreams of a vanished time of sweetness and pleasure. "If then my constancy still loves through its sorrow," she asks in the concluding allegro (major and minor keys, vision grounded in reality), "the hope yet remains of changing that ungrateful heart".

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LA CONTESSA
E Susanna non vien! Sono ansiosa
di saper come il Conte
accolse la proposta. Alquanto ardito
il progetto mi par, e ad uno sposo
sì vivace, e geloso!
Ma che mal c'è? Cangiando i miei vestiti
con quelli di Susanna, e i suoi co' miei...
al favor della notte... oh cielo, a quale
umil stato fatale io son ridotta
da un consorte crudel, che dopo avermi
con un misto inaudito
d'infedeltà, di gelosia, di sdegni,
prima amata, indi offesa, e alfin tradita,
fammi or cercar da una mia serva aita!

Dove sono i bei momenti
di dolcezza e di piacer,
dove andaro i giuramenti
di quel labbro menzogner?
Perché 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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Wolfgang
• Amadeus
• Mozart
• Le
• Nozze
• di
• Figaro
• Herbert
• von
• Karajan
• Kunz
• Seefried
• London
• Schwarzkopf
• Jurinac

[Ethratian]

Although I like Mrs Te Kanawa I think that this Figaro recording beats all others, but this is simply my opinion ;)

[AmericanEvita]

Schwarzkopf will always be the best Countess of Figaro. Most assume that this is a role that calls for no dramatic inflection at all. Simply not true. The recitative in Dove Sono and other moments of exclamation call for a little bit of bite. She's a woman who is desperate to have her husband's love back and she is intelligent, witty and emotional. Today's sopranos - such as Dorothea Roschmann overdo the drama. Schwarzkopf found a balance between acting and singing beautifully. She is perfect

[minnie888444]

@Glenmed Absolutely agree! Thanks, I was wondering what year it might be.

[Glenmed]

@minnie888444 - Absolutely, Monica. Brava ES.

[Glenmed]

Perfect - recitativo as well as aria. I think this is 1950.

[minnie888444]

Thanks for posting. Technically SUPERB, which makes it possible to render the very dramatic nature of this aria. Brava ES, and bravo Maestro Karajan. And with the wonderful orchestra of Vienna!

Response to other comments: this tempo is exactly right, it adds to the drama, and her vibrato is perfect, that's the way it should be.

[90lysander]

The accompanied recitative is a little slow for my tastes (Schwarzkopf's version under Giulni has a much more exciting opening) but the aria itself is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Bravi to all involved!

[Liszt1886]

migliore l'incisione diretta da Giulini.

[aoimozart]

my favorite aria