Biamonti 28, WoO 90
this second aria for bass and orchestra can actually be traced to the Geothe singspiel Claudine de Villabella in which it is sung antiphonally between Rugantino and the Vagabond chorus. The text of Beethoven's version is quite different from the version used by Reichardt. In Beethoven's version, the vagabonds have gone home, leaving a cheery bass to sing a rather solid Mozart buffa aria, compete with an onomatopoetic section based on the sound of swords clashing - kling, klang, ding, dang, and so forth. A real trick for a record needle test as it sounds very little like Beethoven.
Showing posts with label singspiel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label singspiel. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Aria in F major: "Prüfung des Küssens"; for bass & orchestra "Meine weise Mutter spricht" (c. 1790)
Biamonti 28, WoO 89
Beethoven wrote two arias for bass ad orchestra using text from Goethe's singspiel Claudine de Villabella. The text itself was originally, it seems, part of a colaboration between Goethe and the famously pirckly composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt. Claudine itself is a work in the Sturm und Drang mode telling the story of the young Claudine and the awkward vagabond Don Pedro. Intrigue and disguises follow and eventually all end up happily ever after. A search of the libretto of the singspiel, however, does not turn up this text.
This singspiel aria for bass and orchestra gives us a sense of what Beethoven might have written if he were a completely different composer and writing buffa arias. It's a rather tame, Mozartian sentimentality buffa. Nothing gets out of control, nothing gets too exciting; the piece is over as it began.
Beethoven wrote two arias for bass ad orchestra using text from Goethe's singspiel Claudine de Villabella. The text itself was originally, it seems, part of a colaboration between Goethe and the famously pirckly composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt. Claudine itself is a work in the Sturm und Drang mode telling the story of the young Claudine and the awkward vagabond Don Pedro. Intrigue and disguises follow and eventually all end up happily ever after. A search of the libretto of the singspiel, however, does not turn up this text.
This singspiel aria for bass and orchestra gives us a sense of what Beethoven might have written if he were a completely different composer and writing buffa arias. It's a rather tame, Mozartian sentimentality buffa. Nothing gets out of control, nothing gets too exciting; the piece is over as it began.
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