[1] Alone on stage, the Countess regrets in the recitative that her husband, Count Almaviva, who had wooed her energetically (see: Beaumarchais' The Barber of Seville) and loved her ardently, has become an indiscriminate, overbearing philanderer;[4] and that she must rely on assistance from her domestic staff in order to manipulate him.

[2][5]: 266 In Mozart's score, the aria follows the sextet in act 3 where Figaro and his enemies (Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina) learn that he is actually their long-lost son ("Riconosci in questo amplesso").

[2] Ian Woodfield cites Alan Tyson's inspection[7] of the autograph retrieved in 1977 from the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków which found no hint of such a reshuffle, but concedes that the hypothesis by Moberly and Raeburn was not disproved, only uncorroborated.

[10] The first two stanzas, in the tempo of Andante, are in A–B–A′ da capo format, sung softly, with little melodic movement,[5]: 266–267  while oboes and bassoons fill her rests with expressive motifs which she later picks up.

[10] Waldoff and Webster argue that "Dove sono" is musically related to the Countess's dramatic relationship with Susanna; specifically exemplified by similarities in the voice/wind instrument interaction in the Letter Duet and "Deh vieni".

Cangiando i miei vestiti con quelli di Susanna e i suoi co' miei... al favor della notte... Oh cielo, a qual umil stato fatale io son ridotta da un consorte crudel che, dopo avermi con un misto inaudito d'infedeltà, di gelosia, di sdegni prima amata, indi offesa e alfin tradita, fammi or cercar da una mia serva aita!

Perché mai se in pianti e in pene per me tutto si cangiò, la memoria di quel bene dal mio sen non trapassò?

Ah se almen la mia costanza, nel languire amando ognor, mi portasse una speranza di cangiar l'ingrato cor!

Changing my clothes with those of Susanna and hers with mine... shielded by the night... oh heavens, to what humble and dangerous state am I reduced by a cruel husband, who, after marrying me with an unheard of mixture of infidelity, jealousy and disdain first loved, then offended and at last betrayed me, now makes me seek my maid for help!