"A Summernight's Concert in Berlin" - June 17, 2007

A live Performance of the aria "Non so più cosa son" sung by Dorothea Fayne (Mezzo-Soprano), accompanied by Jens Holzkamp (piano). June 2007.

"Non so più cosa son" is Cherubino's first aria from Act I of Mozart's opera - Le Nozze di Figaro (1786). The music is by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte (adapted from Beaumarchais' drama - Le Marriage de Figaro).

The setting of this aria is the new, sparsely furnished bedroom of Susanna and Figaro. Cherubino enters to tell Susanna about his last bout with the Count. He was caught kissing Barbarina and now the Count Almaviva has threatened to expel him from the castle. In the middle of his complaining he sees a ribbon, which belongs to the Countess Rosina. He forgets all of his troubles at that moment, grabs the ribbon and gives Susanna a manuscript copy of one his songs – Non so più cosa son. In this song Cherubino proclaims his love for every woman he knows and his love for love itself...

Here is an English translation of Cherubino’s wonderful aria – Non so più cosa son:

“I don’t know anymore what I am, what I am doing;
Now I am like fire, then I am like ice.
Every woman changes my color,
every woman makes my heart palpitate.

Just the name love, delight,
makes me turbulent, rises my chest,
and love forces me to speak about a desire,
a desire which I cannot explain.

I talk about love when awake,
I talk about love when dreaming,
to the water, to the shadows, to the mountains,
to the flowers, to the grass, to the fountains,
to the echo, to the air, to the winds,
which carry away from here
the sounds of my vane accents.

And if I don’t have anyone who will listen to me,
I talk about love with myself.”