:Aria "Newly born fascinating rose" in A K.365a (Anh.11a)
On 26 June 1996, Christie's of London auctioned a manuscript leaf containing 30 bars of music in Mozart's hand from a previously unknown German aria for soprano.
The German text of the newly discovered aria reads as follows:
[...] Jungen lent geschmückt
doch willst du sie am stocke brechen
doch willst du sie am stocke brechen,
dich werden ihre dornen stechen
ihre dornen stechen
so laden tausend schmeicheleÿn
der liebe zum genußdich ein,
und untreu gram und Eifersucht
sind meistens ihre frucht
sind meistens ihre frucht
untreu gram [...]
This may be roughly translated as:
[...] the young springtime adorned,
But if you wish to pluck it from the bush
Its thorns will prick you.
Thus a thousand flatteries of love
invite you to pleasure,
And infidelity, grief and jealousy
are more often than not its fruit.
The leaf comes from an aria Mozart composed for Emanuel Schikaneder in November 1780, for use in a performance in Salzburg of a German adaptation of Gozzi's play Le due notti affannose. Although it is well documented in the letters of the Mozart family that he composed the aria, and that it was performed in Salzburg on 1 December 1780, the music for it has, up to now, remained completely unknown.
Mozart's texts are instead drawn from an adaptation of "Le due notti affannose", by Johann Gottfried Dyk. Dyk's version was published in Leipzig in 1780 (the author's preface is dated 1 May 1780) under the title "Wie man sich die Sache denkt! oder: Die zwey schlaflosen Nächte" and was apparently first performed on 12 July 1780 in Leipzig by the Bondini company. Dyk's recitative and aria read as follows:
[Recitative]
Wie grausam ist, o Liebe, nicht dein Spiel!
Von ferne zeigst du unserm Herzen
Ein süßes Wonn- und Glücksgefühl:
Und ach! wie oft wird es Gefühl der Schmerzen!
Wir freuen uns der süßen Wunden,
Die uns dein Pfeil jezt schlägt;
Allein das Gift, das er uns in den Busen trägt,
Wird bald zu unsrer Qual empfunden.
[Aria]
Die neugeborne Ros' entzückt,
Mit Reiz vom jungen Lenz geschmückt:
Doch willst du sie am Stocke brechen,
Dich werden ihre Dornen stechen.
So laden tausend Schmeicheleyn
Der Liebe zum Genußdich ein,
Und Untreu, Gram und Eifersucht
Sind meistens ihre Frucht.
All but the first seven words of the aria are present on the newly discovered aria leaf. It seems extremely likely that Mozart also composed music for the recitative, although there is currently no trace of the music for it.
Instruments; CH1: Cor I, II in A, CH2: Violino I, CH3: Violino II, CH4: Viola, CH5: Soprano (Clarinetto), CH6: Violloncello, CH7: Contrabasso, Source; MJb1996 p.194-6
