Six Variations on Mio caro Adone

An operatic tune at the keyboard

Mio caro Adone comes from Salieri’s La fiera di Venezia. Mozart’s theme places its ornamented melody over chords that often leave space between their entries. The three-beat Andante should retain the sense of a sung line, rather than becoming a sequence of decorated beats. The first variation introduces flowing right-hand movement, bringing a different physical task into the same musical world.

Let the accompaniment leave room

Practise the melody with only the bass notes, listening for the points of arrival. Restore the accompanying chords softly and keep their releases clear. As the upper part becomes more continuous, try to hear the tune through the smaller notes. Compare a phrase of the theme with its variation before playing the whole cycle: this makes changes of texture easier to shape as musical contrasts.

Music in this edition

1. Six Variations on Mio caro Adone