The Sixth Day of Christmas - The Music of Mozart

I have never been a been an admirer of geese. So, on this Sixth Day of Christmas, instead of "Six Geese a Laying", I offer one of the most exquisite compositions that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ever wrote.

"Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto" is a duettino, or a short duet, from the Third Act of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492. In the duettino, Countess Almaviva (a soprano) dictates to Susanna (also a soprano) the invitation to a tryst addressed to the countess' husband in a plot to expose his infidelity. The duet is scored for oboe, bassoon, and strings. Its time signature is 6/8, its key is B-flat major, and it is only 62 bars long. During the first part of the duet (bars 1–37), the Contessa dictates the title and the three lines of the letter and, after a pause, Susanna repeats the lines as she writes them. In the second part, the contessa and Susanna read alternate lines with a slight overlap (bars 38–45) until they finish in a true duet with their conclusion.

Many of my readers may remember this piece because it was played at a crucial moment in the film The Shawshank Redemption.  Prisoner Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) defied Warden Sam Norton (Bob Gunton) by playing the duettino over the prison's loudspeakers. While the music was playing, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) remarked in his voice-over narration that, "I have no idea to this day what them two Italian ladies were singin' about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singin' about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream."

The performance here is with Edith Mathis and Gundula Janowitz from a 1968 recording under the legendary Karl Bohm. It is indeed, "something so beautiful."

A Prayer for the First Sunday after Christmas

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN.

Love One Another - Brian