Notturno for Two Sopranos and Bass, “Se lontan ben mio, tu sei” (K. Anh.A 47.02)
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
The Notturno “Se lontan ben mio, tu sei” (K. Anh.A 47.02) is a short E♭-major vocal fragment from around 1783, transmitted with an uncertain (and often doubted) attribution to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Scored for two sopranos and bass with wind instruments, it belongs to the intimate Viennese domestic music-making associated with Mozart’s circle in his late twenties.
Background and Context
In or around 1783—when Mozart was 27 and newly established in Vienna as a freelance composer-pianist—small-scale vocal ensembles (notturni) circulated for performance in private homes. “Se lontan ben mio, tu sei” survives as a brief fragment and is catalogued as K. Anh.A 47.02 (also encountered as K. 438), with the composer attribution treated as doubtful in modern reference listings.[1]
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The text is Italian and begins with the incipit “Se lontan ben mio, tu sei.” Some secondary catalogues connect the poetry to Pietro Metastasio, while other attributions (including those found in older or derivative listings) link the item with the Jacquin circle; in any case, the surviving musical source does not provide a securely documented occasion, first performance, or dedicatee.[1]
Musical Character
What can be said with confidence is primarily what is “on the page.” The fragment is in E♭ major and written for three voices (two sopranos and bass) with wind accompaniment—listed in modern score cataloguing as two B♭ clarinets and basset horn—a mellow, blended sonority that suits evening music-making.[1]
Within its tiny span, the texture suggests a terzetto manner: the upper voices tend to move in close coordination while the bass underpins the harmony, producing the conversational, gracefully balanced vocal writing familiar from Mozart’s authenticated ensembles—yet the fragmentary state and uncertain authorship advise restraint in stylistic conclusions.[1]
[1] IMSLP work page with catalog numbers (K.438 / K. Anh.A 47/02), key (E♭ major), scoring (2 sopranos, bass, 2 clarinets, basset horn), date (1783), and fragment status.