Bella mia fiamma, addio

"Bella mia fiamma, addio", K. 528, is a concert aria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for solo soprano and orchestra, composed in Prague in 1787.

[1][2] Sung by the character Titano, the aria is marked andante, then allegro, and consists of 196 bars in the key of C major.

The aria part of the work calls for a flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two natural horns in C, and strings.

[3] The composition of this aria was somewhat unusual; the following tale is attributed to Mozart's son Karl Thomas:[4] Petranka [sic] is well-known as the villa in which Mozart enjoyed staying with his musician friends, the Duscheks, during his visit to Prague, and where he composed several numbers for his Don Juan [Don Giovanni].

In it, one day, Frau Duschek slyly imprisoned the great Mozart, after having provided ink, pen, and notepaper, and told him that he was not to regain his freedom until he had written an aria he had promised her to the words bella mia fiamma addio.

[5][6][7][8]Librarian Bernard Wilson, commenting on the story, adds: "There seems to be some corroboration of this account in the aria itself.

27–34) are set to an awesome tangle of chromatic sequences artfully calculated to test the singer's sense of intonation and powers of interpretation.

"[2][9] In 1789, Duschek sang the work along with other arias at concerts given by Mozart in Dresden and Leipzig during his Berlin journey of that year.

Ecco reciso, prima d'esser compito, quel purissimo nodo, che strinsero fra lor gl'animi nostri con il solo voler.

Ricordati di me, ma non mai turbi d'un felice sposo la rara rimembranza il tuo riposo.

Aria (to Proserpina): Resta, o cara, acerba morte mi separa, Oh Dio ... da te!