Voi che sapete
Voi che sapete is an aria for mezzo-soprano taken from Mozart’s 1786 Opera “The Marriage of Figaro”.
This four-act opera is the first of Mozart’s three Italian “Opera Buffa” (funny opera) written on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Mozart set it to music at the age of 29.
The other Italian works of the great Amadeus are Don Giovanni ande Così fan tutte.
“Voi che sapete” is performed in the second act by the character Cherubino: the count’s page. In reality the page is a girl disguised as a male that’s why the air is sung by a mezzosporano.
Mozart was critical and irreverent towards the nobility, a nobility that would have been overwhelmed very soon by the innovative liberal-popular winds of the French Revolution.
In the “Le nozze di Figaro” Mozart makes fun of the nobility by exalting the figures of court servitude. In fact, Mozart describes the “servants” much more gentle and intelligent than the nobles where they served.
The opera is the pride of Milan but unfortunately it is much, too much, neglected by the authorities, the media, the press and the people from Milano, themselves, of all ages.
The “Teatro alla Scala” is the maximum point of reference for this musical and artistic expression. Since August 3, 1778, the day of its inauguration, it has never stopped offering its sweet notes to the world.
For a composer, coming to Milan to have his works heard was like a university exam.
Even the great Mozart came to Milan to perform his works in order to be approved from the public of Milan. In fact, between 1769 and 1773 Mozart came to Milan several times.
At 14 he played the organ in the Church of San Marco. He did the opening concert of the music room at Palazzo Clerici. In the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine he performed some of his works and directed a sung mass.
He played in the Church of San Fedele and in Sant’Antonio Abate.
In 1770 he presented his first Italian opera Mithridates, king of the ponto, in the Ducal Theater of Milan.
But here’s the “Voi che sapete” from the Opera “Le nozze di Figaro” written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1786.
Video – Voi che sapete –
Un abbraccio/ a big Hug
Marcus Dardi
