Andantino for Piano in E♭ (after Gluck, “Non vi turbate”) (K. Anh.A 41)
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Andantino in E♭ major (K. Anh.A 41) is a short keyboard arrangement of Gluck’s aria “Non vi turbate, no” from Alceste. It is usually dated to Vienna around 1790, when Mozart was 34, though the attribution and exact circumstances remain uncertain.
Background and Context
In Vienna around 1790, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was balancing public work for the court—most notably the coronation opera La clemenza di Tito later that year—with a steady private trade in teaching and music for the salon and the keyboard [1]. The Andantino in E♭ major, K. Anh.A 41, is transmitted as an arrangement “after” Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Non vi turbate, no” (Alceste), and it is commonly associated with Vienna and a late date in Mozart’s life, although scholars and catalogues treat it cautiously as an uncertain or doubtful attribution [1]. In any case, the choice of Gluck is telling: his operas remained a living reference point in Viennese musical culture, and “Non vi turbate” itself is identifiable as an aria in Act II of Alceste [2].
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Musical Character
Set in E♭ major and marked Andantino, the piece reads as a lyrical, vocal-minded transcription: a single cantabile line is brought to the foreground, with the accompaniment shaped to support phrasing as if for a singer breathing between textual units [1]. Rather than virtuoso display, the writing favors even motion, clear harmonic pacing, and a poised, “operatic” melody—features that suit Gluck’s reform style and make the music effective as a domestic, expressive keyboard miniature.
[1] Mozarteum Salzburg, Köchel Verzeichnis entry: “KV Anh. A 41 – Andantino in E flat (Christoph Willibald Gluck)” (cataloguing, attribution status, basic work data).
[2] MozartDocuments.org (documentary context; identifies “Non vi turbate, no” as an aria from Act II of Gluck’s Alceste).