Il tenero momento

THE SONGBIRD: Sylvia Geszty (1934 - 2018) was one of the leading coloratura practitioners of the 1960s-1980s. She made many studio recordings and was a regular on European television. Geszty was born in Budapest, but lived most of her life in Germany, with Berlin and Stuttgart as her bases. She made her debut in 1959 in Budapest, and then started her long association with Berlin in 1961 as Gluck's Amor. Her international appearances included Queen of the Night in London in 1966 and in Salzburg in 1967/68/70; and as Sophie in "Der Rosenkavalier" in Buenos Aires and in Los Angeles in 1969. Other cities heard her: Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Amsterdam, Glyndebourne, and Venice. In 1988, Geszty founded an international coloratura singing competition, and in 2004 published her memoirs, titled "Königin der Koloraturen."

THE MUSIC: Johann Christian Bach (1735 - 1782) was the 18th child of J.S. Bach and was a prominent composer in the classical era, a slightly older contemporary to Mozart (1756 - 1791). Both men composed operas to the same libretto of "Lucio Silla" -- Mozart in 1772 and Bach in 1776. "Il tenero momento" is the first aria of Cecilio, a Roman senator in exile, here from a performance in 1974 conducted by Gunter Kehr. At the end of the video I link to a posting of Mozart's version of the aria on my channel.