About this work
This powerful aria is a clear forerunner to the Queen of the Night's
music in The Magic Flute. Mozart exercises his formidable talent for
making beautiful phrases, lushly ormanented, convey fury and hate. Even
though the piece was never completely finished, it is an impressive work.
Like Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio, this is an insertion aria for Il
curioso indiscreto by Anfossi. The author of the text is unknown.
Clorinda, who also sings the Vorrei spiegarvi, here addresses her suitor
angrily. "No, you are incapable of courtesy, of honor, and are wrong in
boasting that your heart burns with love for me. Go. I abhor you,
ingrate, and abhor myself even more that for an instant I loved you, that
I had sighed for you."
The aria has brutally exposed high notes, and calls for powerful runs and
trills, making this a real show-stopper in the soprano repertoire.