Mozart e Paisiello: a proposito dell’aria «Mentre ti lascio, o figlia» K. 513

Abstract

The text of Mozart's scena e aria K. 513 comes from Giovanni Paisiello's "La disfatta di Dario" performed for the first time in Rome in 1776. The article reconstructs the whole tradition of the libretto, written by Carlo Diodati Morbili in Naples in 1756 and set to music by various authors till the end of the century. There is a large body of evidence that Paisiello's "Mentre ti lascio, o cara" reached large popularity thanks to the most famous tenors of the time. The dramaturgical context of the aria is examined in detail, and four different versions are compared (Paisiello, Traetta, Mozart, and Frigel). Mozart's setting is demonstrated to be directly inspired by Paisiello's model.