Association with Mozart

	Association with Mozart Anna Storace arrived in Vienna in January 1783 to begin rehearsals for the Italian Opera Company that would be opening the following April. It is likely that she first met Mozart during the premier of Antonio Salieri's La scuola di de'gelosi. Mozart would have been in attendance at this premiere because he would have been highly interested in the new singers who were being heard for the first time, plus he always made it a point to attend the openings of his fellow composers' operas in order to keep abreast of what they were composing. Mozart would have been extremely impressed and excited over this new and flamboyant little soprano. She would have won him over instantly with her full, velvety voice, her delightful appearance and her marked comedic flare. Anna was truly unique! It wouldn't have taken Mozart long to introduce himself to Anna and make his presence known to her. Anna and Mozart were known to have developed a very close and warm professional relationship, but it is less well-known that she and Mozart were also considered dear friends. She and her other British associate, the Irish tenor Michael Kelly, became quite close with Mozart and it wasn't unusual to find Kelly, Anna, her brother, Stephen and their mother, Elizabeth' in the Mozart home for private musicales, soirees and parties. Mozart could also be found in attendance at dinner parties in the Storace apartment as well. It is believed by some of the most prominent and most respected Mozart scholars that Mozart and Anna may have even been romantically involved, as there was ample opportunity and reason for this to be so. However, there is no solid evidence or proof that such a relationship between them existed. The great Mozart historian, Alfred Einstein wrote of their relationship: "Between Mozart and her there must have been a deep and sympathetic understanding. She was beautiful, attractive, an artist, and a finished singer, whose salary at the Italian opera in Vienna attained a figure at that time unheard of." He continues by stating that after Anna's return to London in 1787, she and Mozart continued their relationship through correspondence by letter: "But he remained in correspondence with Anna Selina. What happened to these letters is a mystery. Anna Selina certainly treasured them, but perhaps before her death, which occurred in Dulwich in 1817, she destroyed them as not intended for the eyes of an outsider." In addition to the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, it is believed that Mozart most certainly composed the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Anna. Unfortunately, she was unable to sing it because she returned to London before the opera opened in Prague. Anna did have plans to return to Vienna in 1788, but contract negotiations fell through and the emperor could not offer her the salary that she demanded due to escalations in the ongoing war with Turkey. When Mozart learned that his British friends, including Anna, would be returning to England he decided that he would like to go with them and see if he could obtain a commission for an opera at the King's Theatre in London. Anna, Stephen, Kelly and Mozart's pupil and friend Thomas Attwood agreed that this would be a good plan and decided that they would all participate together in procuring a commission for Mozart. However, plans fell through when Mozart's father refused to take his son's two children while Mozart and Constanze got settled in England. It was a disappointed Mozart who then made plans to travel to Prague with Constanze for several performances of Figaro. Just before his departure for Prague Mozart composed the great concert aria, Ch' io mi scordi di te?... Non temer amato bene K.505 as a farewell gift for Anna. Upon his return to Vienna, Mozart and Anna performed the piece together at her farewell concert at the Kärntnertor Theater. What makes this concert aria unique and outstanding is the fact that it is actually a concerto for voice and piano. Mozart composed the piano part to be played by himself. Einstein writes, "...the voice and piano carry on a dialogue so intimately interwoven and so heartfelt that one feels the particular intention in every measure. And at the same time the aria is so extended that it seems more like a concerto movement than an aria. We have the impression that Mozart wanted to preserve the memory of this voice, no brilliant soprano and not suited to display of virtuosity, but full of warmth and tenderness; and that he wanted to leave with her in the piano part a souvenir of the taste and depth of his playing, and of the depth of his feeling for her: Few works of art combine such personal expression with such mastery--the intimacy of a letter with the highest grandeur of form..." Nancy returned to London, leaving Vienna on 27 February, 1787. Her last glimpse of Mozart would have been from the rear window of her carriage as he stood shivering at the customs house, where he came to see his friends off. As stated earlier, Mozart and Anna would continue their friendship through letters, but they would never see one another again. Anna worked for several years procuring a commission for Mozart in London and would succeed in the fall of 1790. However, by then Mozart's health was starting to fail and economic conditions in Austria were not good, so he was obliged to decline the commission. Anna died from a stroke in August of 1817, but not before burning the letters to her from her friend and perhaps lover, Wolfgang Mozart, as they were "For my eyes only". Music Composed for Anna by Mozart: Lo sposo deluso, K.430 -- Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte / Year: 1784? Unfinished. Anna would have sung the role of "Eugenia" had this opera been finished and staged. Per la ricuperata salute di Ophelia -- Text by Lorenzo Da Ponte / Year: 1785 Lost. This was a poem written by Da Ponte and jointly set to music by Mozart, Salieri, and Cornetti, celebrating Anna's return to the stage in Vienna after a sudden loss of her voice during the Viennese premiere of one of her brother’s operas. She had suffered terribly that year because of her marriage to John Fisher, who physically and emotionally abused her. The situation was so dire that Emperor Joseph II had Fisher banished from Vienna. However, Anna learned shortly afterward that she was with child. She carried the pregnancy to term, all-the-while continuing her work on the stage. The child, a baby girl, was born in late June of 1785 and was placed in a foundling home, where she died one month later. Shortly before her birth, Anna premiered in Stephen’s opera and lost her voice on the stage. She did not return to the stage for four months. Le Nozze di Figaro, K 492 -- Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte / Premiered 1 May 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The role of Susanna was tailored specifically to Anna. Susanna was designed to fit her personality and vocal abilities like a glove. This role is considered to be the greatest soubrette role ever written in the history of opera. Mozart never created or designed a role to fit a singer as specifically as he did this one. Ch’io mi scordi di te…Non temer amato bene, K 505 (see score above) -- Text from Idomeneo by Abbe Giambattista Varesco / Premiered 26 February 1787 at the Karntnertor-Theater in Vienna. This was an aria composed as a gift for Anna for her farewell concert on the eve of her departure from Vienna in February of 1787. It is considered the greatest concert aria ever composed, and is actually a concerto for voice and piano. Mozart composed the piano part for himself to play at the concert. It was considered an intimate expression of his love and esteem for Anna. It was only performed once by the two people for whom it was written: Wolfgang Mozart and Anna Storace. There is some evidence, yet no solid proof that the roles of Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Despina in Così fan tutte were composed with Anna in mind as well. Each of these roles were like Susanna in that they were soubrette roles with the characters being energetic, charming and cunning lower-class girls. It is also believed that Mozart composed some of his most famous Lieder with Anna in mind - specifically Abendempfindung, K523.
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