Ah! se il crudel periglio

THE SONGBIRD: French soprano Sabine Devieilhe was born in 1985. She entered the Caen Conservatory when she was 12 in order to study the cello, but became a singer instead. After graduating from the Lycée Malherbe in Caen, Devieilhe obtained a diploma in musicology at the University of Rennes. In 2008, she entered the Conservatoire de Paris. Though she appeared in concert while in school, she made her operatic debut as Amina in 2011 with Jean-Claude Malgoire conducting. She sang at the Aix Festival in 2012, and quickly rose to important roles (Lakmé, Queen of the Night, La Folie, Euridice, Blonde, Ophélie, Melisande, Zerbinetta, Alcina, etc.) with debuts in Montpellier, Lyon, Nantes, Brussels, Paris, New York, Milan, and London. This aria is likely from a concert in Paris in 2015 with Raphaël Pichon's Ensemble Pygmalion.

THE MUSIC: Mozart composed "Lucio Silla" K.132 when he was 16 years old; it premiered in Milan in December 1772 to moderate success. The cast calls for four sopranos (one as a castrato) and two tenors. The opera seria format and plot are typical: Roman dictator Silla lusts for Giunia, who is the daughter of his arch-enemy and who in turn is married to the banished (and presumed dead) Roman senator Cecilio. Mozart composed the role of Giunia for the soprano virtuosa Anna de Amicis (1733 - 1816), who he had met in Mainz in 1763 and who impressed him immeasurably. There are a few references to her in Mozart's letters ("De Amicis sings incomparably") and his father's ("She sings and acts like an angel"). Giunia has four demanding arias of differing emotional colors, but "Ah, se il crudel periglio" is the showpiece to end all showpieces. Mozart himself referred to the aria's "horribly difficult passages" when he assigned it to his new student, Aloysia Weber. It is considered something of an operatic Mount Everest demanding uncanny coloratura flexibility and breath control.

This selection was shared with me by a songbirdwatcher channel subscriber. Ray Martinez is a musicological researcher and sound editor with a special interest and expertise in florid vocal works from the 18th century.