Aria for Margarethe Marchand (lost or unrealised), K. 689
沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯·莫扎特
Mozart’s Aria for Margarethe Marchand (K. 689) is a documented but now-lost vocal work, dated to Vienna in 1784. No music survives, leaving only its catalogue identity and a glimpse of Mozart’s ongoing, highly practical involvement with singers in his Viennese years.
What Is Known
The Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum lists Aria for Margarethe Marchand, K. 689, as an authentic, lost work (Transmission: lost), dated to Vienna, 21 July 1784 (1784) [1]. No autograph, copy, text underlay, or instrumentation is currently known to survive, and there is no secure record of a first performance.
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The dedicatee is generally understood to be the soprano Maria Margarethe Marchand (later Danzi, 1768–1800), who was active in German musical circles a generation younger than Mozart [2]. In 1784 Mozart was deeply engaged with Vienna’s musical life—writing piano concertos for his own concerts and cultivating professional networks in which tailor-made vocal items could serve as auditions, favors, or Gelegenheitsstücke (occasional pieces) [3].
Musical Content
No notated musical content survives for K. 689, so its form, scoring, and text cannot be described from primary musical evidence. Although the work’s title calls it an “aria,” later summaries sometimes speculate about a small-scale vocal piece; the Mozarteum entry itself preserves only the basic identification and its lost status [1].
[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel Verzeichnis entry for KV 689 (status: transmission lost; dating: Vienna, 21.07.1784).
[2] Reference biography for Maria Margarethe Danzi (née Marchand), generally identified with the ‘Margarethe Marchand’ named in KV 689.
[3] Mozart & Material Culture (King’s College London): contextual overview of Mozart’s Viennese musical activity in 1784.