“Ah più tremar non voglio” (Aria for Tenor), K. 71 (fragment) — F major
di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s tenor aria fragment “Ah più tremar non voglio” (K. 71) dates from around 1769–1770, when the composer was about fourteen, and is usually placed in Salzburg. Surviving only in incomplete form, it offers a brief but telling glimpse of Mozart’s early engagement with Italian opera seria style.
What Is Known
“Ah più tremar non voglio” (K. 71) survives as a short fragment for tenor and orchestra in F major, associated with Mozart’s Salzburg years around 1769–1770.[1][2] The surviving musical text is brief (often described in modern reference literature as only a few dozen measures), and it appears to be an isolated aria excerpt rather than a securely identifiable number from a complete, extant stage work.[3]
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The principal source is an autograph manuscript preserved in the Music Department of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; modern listings and scans identify it among the library’s Mozart autographs.[1] The Italian text is commonly linked to Metastasio’s Demofoonte, suggesting that Mozart was working—at least in miniature—within the mainstream seria repertory he was absorbing as a teenager.[4]
Musical Content
What survives is a compact opera seria aria opening (marked Allegro in the NMA fragment listings) in F major, written for tenor with a classical Salzburg-sized orchestra.[3] The scoring transmitted in modern catalogues and score listings is:
- Winds: 2 oboes
- Brass: 2 horns
- Strings: strings (with continuo/customary bass support implied by period practice)
- Voice: tenor
This instrumentation places K. 71 close to the sound-world of Mozart’s early Salzburg theatrical writing—bright, outdoor-friendly winds and horns supporting a vocal line designed for clear declamation. Even in fragmentary form, the page suggests a young composer already thinking theatrically: the tenor enters with music shaped for forward motion and rhetorical emphasis rather than purely lyrical expansion, pointing toward the more assured Italianate stage works Mozart would soon undertake in 1770 and after.
[1] IMSLP work page for “Ah, più tremar non voglio”, K. 71 — source notes, scoring summary, and Berlin autograph shelfmark as listed.
[2] Wikipedia: List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — entry for K. 71 with dating (early 1770) and place (Salzburg).
[3] Digital Mozart Edition (Mozarteum): NMA table of contents for the fragments volume — listing for the aria fragment K. 71 with tempo indication.
[4] Italian Wikipedia entry noting the text’s connection to Metastasio’s “Demofoonte” and approximate dating.