"An Chloe" (To Chloe), K. 524, is a composition for voice and piano by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

to a poem by

Johann Georg Jacobi Johann Georg Jacobi (September 2, 1740 – January 4, 1814) was a German poet. Biography The elder brother of the philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Johann Georg was born at Pempelfort near Düsseldorf. He studied theology at Göttingen and ...

. Mozart composed it on 24 June 1787 in Vienna.

Text

Jacobi's poem consists of 13 four-line

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

s with an A–B–A–B

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

. Mozart, who found it in the ''

Göttinger Musenalmanach ''Göttinger Musenalmanach'' was the title of two different literary magazines published in Göttingen, Germany, one running from 1770 to 1807, the other 1896 to 1953. A ''Musen-Almanach'' was a kind of literary annual, and the Göttingen magazine ...

'' from 1785, used only the first four. The stanzas not used tell how the lovers' happiness was cut short by betrayal and death. The "death" in the third stanza refers to the height of passion after which the lovers release their embrace – ''

la petite mort (; ) is an expression that refers to a brief loss or weakening of consciousness, and in modern usage refers specifically to a post-orgasm sensation as likened to death. The first attested use of the expression in English was in 1572 with the me ...

''. From the

ancient Greek novel Five ancient Greek novels or ancient Greek romances survive complete from antiquity: Chariton's '' Callirhoe'' (mid 1st century), Achilles Tatius' '' Leucippe and Clitophon'' (early 2nd century), Longus' '' Daphnis and Chloe'' (2nd century), X ...

Daphnis and Chloe ''Daphnis and Chloe'' (, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is a Greek pastoral novel written during the Roman Empire, the only known work of second-century Hellenistic romance writer Longus. Setting and style It is set on the Greek isle of Lesbos, whe ...

'', Chloe is the name of a shepherdess often used in poetic pastoral settings. Wenn die Lieb' aus deinen blauen, hellen, offnen Augen sieht, und vor Lust hinein zu schauen mir's im Herzen klopft und glüht; Und ich halte dich und küsse deine Rosenwangen warm, liebes Mädchen, und ich schließe zitternd dich in meinem Arm, Mädchen, Mädchen, und ich drücke dich an meinen Busen fest, der im letzten Augenblicke sterbend nur dich von sich läßt; den berauschten Blick umschattet eine düstre Wolke mir, und ich sitze dann ermattet, aber selig neben dir. When love shines from your blue, bright, open eyes, and the joy of gazing into them makes my heart pound and glows; And I hold you and kiss Your rosy cheeks warm, dear girl, and I clasp you trembling in my arms, Girl, girl, and I press you firmly to my breast, which at the last moment, only dying, lets you go; My intoxicated gaze is shadowed by a gloomy cloud, and then I sit, exhausted, but blissful, next to you.

Music

Apart from the first six bars that Mozart entered into his catalogue, the autograph is lost, presumably by the first publisher,

Artaria Artaria & Co. () was one of the most important music publishing firms of the late 18th and 19th century. Founded in the 18th century in Vienna, the company is associated with many leading names of the classical era. History Artaria & Co. was foun ...

, where it was published in 1789. It was so popular that it was published in Munich and in Denmark (in a Danish translation) during Mozart's lifetime, and in many editions in the following decades.

Mozart's catalogue entry gives the tempo as allegretto, Artaria gives it as allegro. The

key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the cl ...

E-flat major E-flat major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically D minor). The E-fla ...

, the

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

alla breve ''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a Meter (music), musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C) with a vertical line through it, which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian language, Italian for "on t ...

(2/2), the

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

is from D to A, and the work consists of 74 bars, taking about 2 1/2 minutes to perform. The form of the composition is not

strophic Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music. Contrasting song forms include through-composed, ...

, but a

rondo The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...

(A–B–A–C–A) with a coda. The vocal line is independent from the keyboard accompaniment. Upward leaps in the melody in bars 8, 9, 13 indicate the lovers' delight, piano

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of Articulation (music), musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and ...

in bars 21 and 23 depicts heartbeats, there are shivers (piano bars 24, 25, voice

melisma Melisma (, , ; from , plural: ''melismata''), informally known as a vocal run and sometimes interchanged with the term roulade, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in ...

35, 36), breathlessness (mid-word rests in bars 41, 43), and fatigue (longer rests in bars 49 and 50, leading to a general pause in bar 51). The coda invokes

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic style in bars 65 to 70, and bars 62 to 65 employ sudden

dynamic Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' "power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics), the study of forces and their effect on motion Brands and enter ...

changes from the

Mannheim school Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of the Elector Palatine in Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century and the group of composers of the early classical period, who composed for the or ...

. The piano reuses its prelude below the voice in bar 67 and extends it to form a postlude. The first three verses are covered in 39 bars, while the fourth alone takes 30. Several engravers used that score in their depictions of Mozart.

References

External links

* (with recordings, discography, and Jacobi's full text) * * *,

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...

Barbara Bonney Barbara Bonney (born April 14, 1956) is an American soprano. She is associated with lyric soprano roles in operas by Mozart and Richard Strauss as well as lieder performances. Early life Bonney was born in Montclair, New Jersey. As a child she p ...

, Geoffrey Parsons *,

Sumi Jo Sumi Jo, OSI (; ; born 22 November 1962) is a South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her Grammy Award-winning interpretations of the bel canto repertoire. Life and career Early life and education Jo was born Jo Su-gyeong in Ch ...

performance accompanied by violin, viola, cello {{Authority control Compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1787 compositions 1787 songs Compositions in E-flat major