SIGISMOND THALBERG - L'art du chant appliqué au piano, Op. 70 No. 20: Voi Che Sapete from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1863)

Thalberg was one of the finest virtuoso pianist-composers of the mid-19th century. As a composer, he excelled in transcribing or reworking the works of other composers. His fantasias on well-known opera arias by Meyerbeer, Donizetti, Verdi, Weber, and Mozart were extensively performed by himself. It was his Fantasia on themes from Rossini’s Moïse, Op. 33 that brought him wide recognition because of the dazzling technique demanded. When composing piano music, Thalberg loved keeping the melodies in the centre of the keyboard and having them accompanied by fancy arpeggios and chords in registers above and below, creating the illusion of a third hand playing. Whenever Thalberg performed, the audience would stand up to observe his hands roaming from one end of the keyboard to the other.

At the same time, Thalberg was highly praised for his ability to combine the qualities of technical brilliance derived from Clementi, and the singing style deeply influenced by Hummel and Mozart. The solo piano transcriptions of 24 famous vocal works from L’art du chant appliqué au piano (The Art of Singing Applied to the Piano, Op. 70) display how effectively Thalberg could make the piano sing without sacrificing the spark in passage-works. According to Thalberg’s preface of the first edition of Op. 70, “No concessions or sacrifices should be made to the particular mechanism of any given instrument; it is the responsibility of the artist to bend this mechanism to the demands of this art.”

In The Marriage of Figaro, Voi che sapete is sung by Cherubino, an adolescent boy who falls in love with every lady he meets. He is just old enough to know what love is and has a strong desire for it, but he is confused about whom he truly wants to love. Through the simple and straightforward melody of this charming arietta, we understand how naive love is during puberty. The harmonies and timbre, however, are in no way simple. They change constantly to express Cherubino’s frustration. As Thalberg hoped to have this transcription close to the original text (like what he did for the other works from Op. 70), The piano arrangement of Voi che sapete performed tonight forgoes the virtuosity that Thalberg is best remembered today and gives full attention to sonic beauty and poetry instead.