Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Complete Concert Arias for Bass

Franz Beyer's new edition of all of Mozart's concert arias had a larger gap until now. Until the Mozart Year 2006, the three booklets with soprano arias (EB 8671-73) and the tenor booklet (EB 8778) had been published, for which outstanding experts, Juliane Banse (soprano) and Christophe Prégardien (tenor), were available to make suggestions for the arrangement of the cadenzas, entrances and ornamentations. Now Beyer, in collaboration with bass Robert Holl, is following up with the 'complete edition' for the low voice part. The nine surviving bass arias are predominantly compositions from the last phase of Mozart's creative life, during which he did favors for opera singers who were friends of his. The arias 'Per questa bella mano' KV 612 (with obbligato double bass) and 'Männer suchen stets zu naschen' KV 433 deserve special attention. The orchestral setting of this aria, which Mozart had only sketched out, was completed by Beyer during his editing work, so that with the publication of the booklet of arias, the 'naschender Männer' are available for the first time for performances with orchestral accompaniment in the style of Mozart's time.