There have been clear indications that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s biggest influencers as a composer. Beethoven’s compositions quite often utilized similar structures and motifs harmonically, melodically and structurally, and sometimes even employed direct quotations from Mozart’s works in his own. The goal of this paper is to find parallels between Mozart’s concert aria “Bella mia fiamma, addio!” (K. 528) written in 1787 and Beethoven’s concert aria “Ah! perfido” (Op. 65) written in 1796 through examining the texts, analyzing the structures of the pieces, and the delving into the historical circumstances that took place during the time that they were composed.
Analyzing the influence of Mozart’s compositional style on Beethoven was a bit of a process. Much of the literature provided historical and biographical references about Beethoven’s life with a chronological list of his compositions. Barry Cooper, William Kinderman, and Anton Schindler are some of the authors who discussed the parallels between what was occurring in Beethoven’s life and the influences these events had on his compositions. BLAH BLAH. There seems to be a lack of literature discussing concert arias composed by people other than Mozart and there was hardly any scholarly articles centred around Beethoven’s concert arias. A fair amount of literature discusses that “Bella mia fiamma, addio” had influenced Beethoven’s “Ah! perfido”, however there was a lack of literature that supported that statement and much of the parallels had to be personally discerned. Scholars such as Jeremy Ryan Briggs Roberts and Will Crutchfield discussed the influence of Mozart’s strong compositional style on Beethoven’s voice and paralleled similarities between each composers works in the instrumental form such as symphonies and sonatas and also between their operas. There was a fair amount of literature discussing the concert arias of Mozart both in historical and analytical aspects by scholars such as William Erwin McCauley and Nicole Baker, however there was almost nothing scholarly that discussed Beethoven’s concert arias, which also meant there was no profound literature on the parallels between Mozart and Beethoven’s compositional styles in regards to concert arias. Therefore, it has been a through combination of researching all of the above literature to find the similarities and parallels between the two concert arias discussed in this paper by using comparisons of other works, historical contexts of the two compositions, and analyzing motifs and themes common in concert arias and in each of the voices of Mozart and Beethoven.
Concert arias are essentially smaller concertos where the voice replaces the solo instrument. They are scenes and arias written specifically for performance in a concert setting rather than a fully-staged operatic setting. Many singers in the 18th century commissioned concerts arias as they were able to be performed more effectively dramatically than an aria taken from an opera and performed alone. They were often virtuosic in their vocal lines and allowed for a more technical display of the singer’s abilities. There is no expected formal outline that applies to all concert arias indefinitely as form often varied depending on the dramatic situation of the story and text, though many began with a substantial dramatic recitative followed by an elaborate aria, which is the case in both Mozart’s “Bella mia fiamma, addio” and Beethoven’s “Ah! perfido”.
One of the very first similarities between “Bella mia fiamma, addio” and “Ah! perfido” is that they were both composed in Prague. Mozart and Beethoven took identical tours through Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin with the same patron, the Prince Karl Alois Lichnowsky. Lichnowsky initiated both of these tours, first with Mozart in 1789 and then with Beethoven in 1798. Alexander Thayer states that much of Beethoven’s success during this tour could be attributed to the prominent contacts previously laid by Mozart and Lichnowsky during the first tour, particularly in the city of Prague. Barry Cooper confirms this idea as well, stating that Mozart was highly admired in Prague and that Beethoven may have utilized a compositional style close to that of Mozart while scoring the concert aria “Ah! perfido” in hopes of pleasing patrons as only the prolonged coda and the return of the opening motif in the second part of the aria closing the piece in the orchestra show signs of Beethoven’s personal compositional style. There has been many clear indications of Mozart’s influence on Beethoven’s compositions, ranging from utilizing similar compositional constructions in harmonic, structural, and melodic themes to Beethoven using direct quotation such as quoting part of the second act finale of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte in the Largo section of his C Major Piano Concerto (Op. 15). Even in Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio, there are obvious parallels between the two composers. Both employ the same contrapuntal structure, a very similar canonic development, and even utilize very similar styles in their arias. For example, Pizarro’s rage aria “Ha! Welch’ win Augenblick!” has often been compared to the Queen of the Night’s rage aria “Der Hölle Rache” as they are both allegros in 4/4 time, both are in D minor, both begin with a piano tremolo or a roll followed quickly by dramatic sforzandi and then returning to the agitated piano tremolos again, and both are scored for the same orchestra which utilize the standard instruments but also add trumpets and timpani to intensify the drama taking place in these arias. With such clear influence of Mozart’s compositional style on Beethoven’s instrumental and operatic compositions, it is not far off to expect that Mozart could have also influenced Beethoven’s composition of concert arias as well. Another significant parallel is that they were both written for the same singer, Prague soprano Josepha Duschek. She was the wife of pianist Franz Duschek and was an accomplished concert and oratorio singer and pianist. Reception and accounts of her voice were varied. Hermann Abert stated that she was praised often for her “beautiful, full and well-rounded voice and for her interpretative powers, particularly in recitative” and Joachim Schiedenhofen described her voice as being “uncommonly clear and agreeable.” However, some others were not as fond of her voice. Leopold Mozart disliked her and her “exaggerated powers of expression” and Christian Korner would criticise her in the same manner, finding her powers of expression “too much of a caricature, missing any sense of grace or charm.” Regardless of these mixed reviews, Mozart himself wrote two concert arias for Duschek. The aria “Ah, lo previdi” (K. 272) was written for her in 1777. Mozart had long been promising to write her another aria, however he could not seem to be persuaded to sit down and actually write it. So, Duschek took drastic measures to ensure he would complete the aria and while he was staying in her summer home in Prague in 1787, she locked him in a garden room and declared she would not let him out until the aria was finished. He wrote it, however to exact revenge at Duschek, he included some harmonically complex passages in the aria, particularly on the words “Quest' affano, questo passo è terribile per me” (mm. 27–34) and stated that if she could not sight read it perfectly right then, he would destroy it. It seems that she must’ve done well, as bears her name on the piece. It is unclear if Beethoven originally wrote “Ah! perfido” for Josepha Duschek as on one of the two title pages in a preserved source of this concert aria, there is a dedication to Countess Josephine von Clary-Aldringen, whom Beethoven had already composed several works for mandolin and piano for. She is not mentioned in the first edition, so it is speculated it was not written specifically for her. Josepha Duschek premiered the piece in Leipzig on November 21, 1796 and the concert announcement stated that it was composed for her by Beethoven, however this statement may not have been accurate and used as an advertising ploy instead.
There was a serious lack in literature comparing the two concert arias in the way of musical structure, so this brief analysis was formed personally though research. The first obvious similarity between the two concert arias is they both utilize the same 3-part structure: recitative followed by the aria that is split into two parts, first an adagio section and then followed by an allegro section. Beethoven’s allegro section utilizes more contrast as it shifts between allegro and più lento. The recitatives in both of the concert arias are in the key of C Major. Mozart’s aria “Resta, oh cara” continues in the same key of C Major, while Beethoven’s aria “Per pieta, non dirmi addio” shifts into the key of E-flat Major. Both of the recitatives utilize common time signature and then the arias both shift into 3/4 in the adagio section. The similarities between time signatures does not continue in the allegro sections of each of the concert arias. Mozart’s allegro section beginning with the text “Ah, dov’è il tempio?” goes into cut time, whereas Beethoven’s allegro section beginning with the text “Ah, crudel!” reverts back into common time. Both of the recitatives are accompagnato, meaning that they are accompanied by the orchestra. Recitativo accompagnato was often a dramatically important scene that resembled a melodramatic monologue followed by the aria. Both “Bella mia fiamma, addio” and “Ah! perfido” have dramatic soliloquies in their accompanied recitatives followed by an aria. There was a movement away from the da capo aria to a new form called the two-tempo aria, sometimes following into the rondo aria form and sometimes following more of a cavatina/cabaletta formula that was also popular in the bel canto genre. There were influences of the da capo aria on this new form of two-tempo aria as the B section of a da capo aria often adjusts to a new tempo and meter in response to the text and emotion being portrayed. Some of the literature discussed whether these concert arias were rondo arias as neither of them stated that they were rondo form. Kunze believed that rondo was the formal structure for “Bella mia fiamma, addio” as there was a copy from c.1800 that was entitled Recitat: con rondo but there is no evidence that Mozart composed it in rondo form and there is no opening repeated rondo theme in the aria so it does not really fit into that form properly. Manfredini debated as to whether or not all two-form arias fell into the rondo form and instead titled them as being “grand and sublime arias which contain two motives, or subjects, one slow and the other spirited, repeated two times only.” He stated that the two-tempo aria was more effective at portraying emotion in a pure manner than aria forms such as the da capo or cantibili. Cantabili arias utilized excessive ornamentations to portray emotion and the text was utilized in a repetitious way, which he found to be unauthentic to the feelings of the character and the narrative. Manfredini much preferred this new two-tempo aria because instead of ending with these repetitive return the the A section or a drawn-out cadenza , they finished with a strong impact or force, keeping the intense emotions going until the very end of the piece.
Another characteristic that these two concert arias share is the usage of ancient mythological history, a characteristic very prevalent in opera seria. The stories utilized by Beethoven and Mozart in their respective concert arias were both derived from Greek and Roman mythology. The text in Mozart’s “Bella mia fiamma” derives from Roman mythology. It is based on the myth of Proserpina and her mother Ceres. The Goddess Ceres is furious that Titano has eloped with her daughter, Prosperina. As punishment, Ceres has forced Proserpina to abandon her mortal love Titano. In his grief, he has decided to die in sacrifice rather than living without his lover. The text in Beethoven’s concert aria “Ah! perfido” is derived from Green mythology. The recitative of Beethoven’s “Ah, perfido”, taken from the libretto of Pietro Metastasio’s “Achille in Sciro” (“Achillies in Skyros”) and is based on the story of Deidamia and Achilles. The mother of Achilles hides him on the island of Skyros dressed as a girl because an oracle prophesied that he would die in Troy when he was a young man. While at Skyros, Achilles falls in love with the King’s daughter Deidamia and they have a son together. Odysseus comes to Skyros to find Achilles, as they need him in order to win the battle at Troy. Beethoven composed the piece that is pregnant Deidamia’s reaction to Achilles leaving her for the Trojan Wars. Both concert arias are lamentations sung in the point of view of the noble lovers left behind, which is a theme often utilized by two-tempo arias. This resplendent theme of farewell is also a commonplace motif in opera seria. In Mozart’s “Bella mia fiamma”, Titano laments his fate and consoles his beloved Proserpina as they share their final goodbyes. The profound sense of pain he is feeling towards his plight is showcased not only in the text, but also in the music through its chromatic intensity. There are variations of emotions in this piece, alternating between anguish at having to say farewell to his lover, which is showcased in the adagio section of the aria and then bitterly pleading for death to hasten as life is no longer bearable, which musically leads us into the allegro section which emotes this desperate yearning and pleading for death in its musical contrast to the adagio. Similarly, in Beethoven’s accompanied recitative of “Ah! perfido”, a heartbroken woman suffers from the loss of her lover and experiences an extreme range of emotions, first begging the gods for vengeance on her lover and then pleading for them to show him mercy instead. The music accompanies and helps paint these fluctuating emotions by its tempestuous nature through drastic tempo changes and a feeling of restlessness in the orchestra which lends itself to the undulating flow of tension in the piece. The aria that follows, “Per pieta, non dirmi addio” (“Have mercy, do not bid me farewell”) continues these interchanging themes of compassion and fury as the woman pleads for her lover to return to her and then curses fate for the state it has reduced her to. The music in the aria lends itself to this constantly changing state of emotions as well, switching frequently between slow and fast tempi and a utilizing a dramatic range of dynamics.
In conclusion, there are quite a few similarities between Mozart’s “Bella mia fiamma, addio” and Beethoven’s “Ah! perfido”. Through usage of theoretical analysis, historical context, and text analysis, similarities were able to be bridged in many ways. Not only do they begin with a dramatic recitative followed by a two-tempo aria, begin in the same key, utilize similar time signatures and tempo markings, and have similar dramatic text themes, but historically were also written in the same city for the same singer after taking identical tours with the same patron.