Voi avete un cor fedele

"Voi avete un cor fedele", K. 217, is a concert aria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for solo soprano and orchestra, composed in Salzburg, dated 26 October 1775. Written around the time of the composition of Mozart's five violin concertos. In this aria, the character Dorina contemplates a new romantic partner.

A travelling Italian opera company visited Salzburg, and asked Mozart to write an insertion aria for the opera Le nozze di Dorina, an opera buffa by the Italian composer Baldassare Galuppi. The text originated by the dramatist Carlo Goldoni, but it is unknown who adapted this aria text for Mozart. The scholar Stanley Sadie noted the aria is “substantial with ironic overtones, set in alternating slow and fast sections, shows a remarkable advance in comic aptitude in its gestures and its timing as compared with anything in La finta giardiniera", which was completed by Mozart a few months earlier. The aria was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1882. It remains a popular concert piece, often performed and recorded.

Description

Sung by the character Dorina, the aria is marked Andantino graziosa, then allegro, and consists of 126 bars in the key of G major. The vocal range reaches from D₄ to B₅ with an unusually high tessitura. A typical performance lasts for around seven minutes. The work calls for two oboes, two natural horns in G and strings. The time signature for the Andantino graziosa is ³
₄ triple metre, then for the allegro, common time . The aria contains scales and trills with bravura passages.

Text

Voi avete un cor fedele,
Come amante appassionato:
Ma mio sposo dichiarato,
Che farete? cangerete?
Dite, allora che sarà?
Manterrete fedeltà?

Ah! non credo.
Già prevedo,
Mi potreste corbellar.
Non ancora,
Non per ora,
Non mi vuò di voi fidar.

You have a faithful heart,
like any impassioned lover;
but once my troth is plighted,
tell me, what will you do?
Will you change?
Will you remain faithful?

Ah, I cannot believe it!
It is already foretold,
you will make a fool of me.
Not yet,
not for now
will I trust in you.

Recordings

• 1962 – Maria Stader (soprano), Camerata Salzburg, Bernhard Paumgartner – Deutsche Grammophon
• 1981 – Edita Gruberová (soprano), Vienna Chamber Orchestra, György Fischer – Decca
• 1983 – Edith Mathis (soprano), Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Leopold Hager – Philips
• 1989 – Felicity Lott (soprano), London Mozart Players, Jane Glover – Decca
• 1990 – Emma Kirkby (soprano), Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood – Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre
• 1992 – Edita Gruberová (soprano), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt – Teldec
• 2016 – Regula Mühlemann (soprano), Kammerorchester Basel, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli – Sony Classical

External links

•  "Voi avete un cor fedele": Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• "Voi avete un cor fedele": Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Italian text
• "Voi avete un cor fedele" on YouTube, Cecilia Bartoli, Concentus Musicus Wien, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• "Voi avete un cor fedele" on YouTube, Lucia Popp, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, conductor Leopold Hager