Notturno for Two Sopranos and Bass in F major, “Luci care, luci belle” (K. Anh.A 47.05)
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Notturno (terzet) “Luci care, luci belle” (K. Anh.A 47.05) is a brief F-major vocal chamber piece, probably intended for private music-making in Vienna in the late 1780s. Although sometimes linked with Gottfried von Jacquin and transmitted among the so-called Sei notturni, the work’s exact authorship and dating remain uncertain.
Background and Context
“Luci care, luci belle” belongs to a small cluster of secular notturni for three singers with wind accompaniment, associated with Mozart’s Viennese circle and especially the Jacquin family, with whom he was friendly. Modern cataloguing at the Mozarteum lists it as a notturno (terzet) for two sopranos and bass with three basset horns, in F major, and places it broadly in Vienna, 1787–1788—later than the older “Vienna, 1783?” tradition sometimes attached to the group.[1]
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The text is frequently attributed in older listings to Gottfried von Jacquin, but the Mozarteum entry instead credits Pietro Metastasio as the author of the words and describes Mozart’s role as arranger, with Jacquin named as composer—a division that mirrors long-running uncertainty over how much of these pieces is genuinely by Mozart.[1] Whatever the exact distribution of labor, the scoring is characteristically Viennese: the mellow, veiled sonority of basset horns (low clarinets in F) frames an intimate, salon-scale vocal texture rather than a public, theatrical one.[3]
Musical Character
On the page, “Luci care, luci belle” is concise and uncomplicated: a single Allegretto movement, designed for blend and conversational exchange among the three voices rather than virtuoso display.[2] The two soprano lines often move in sympathetic parallel—suggesting a duet-like “pair” set against the bass—while the basset horns supply soft harmonic padding and gentle rhythmic impetus, creating a nocturnal, serenade-like atmosphere.[1]
In terms of Mozart’s development, the piece (whoever its principal author) sits naturally beside his 1780s fascination with clarinet-family colors and domestic vocal forms: music that treats timbre—especially the dusky, reedy bloom of basset horns—as a primary expressive agent, and that favors charm, poise, and short-span invention over large-scale drama.[2]
[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel-Verzeichnis (KV): work entry with scoring, key, status/authorship roles, and dating.
[2] Kammermusikführer (Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz): program-note style overview of the notturni and “Luci care, luci belle”.
[3] IMSLP: score page confirming key, genre grouping, and instrumentation (2 sopranos, bass, 3 basset horns).