“Voi Che Sapete” is an aria from Mozart’s opera, “The Marriage of Figaro” is one of my all-time favourites. Mozart com posed this opera buffa in 1786 to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. The libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, which was considered scandalous at the time. It’s all about an incompetent nobleman who is outfoxed by a crafty servant in their quest for the same woman. The play was censored in France, and Mozart was only allowed to proceed after all the political speeches were deleted.
The action takes place in the palace of Count Almaviva, where he lives with the Countess and number of servants. Among them are Figaro, Figaro’s fiancée Susanna (the Countess’ maid) and the Count’s page, Cherubino. The servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, and they thereby foil the efforts of the philandering Count Almaviva who was looking to seduce Susanna.
Cherubino, a girl-crazy teenager who has a hopeless crush on the Countess, sings the aria. He is about to be sent off to the army because the Count finds him a nuisance. He appears before the Countess and Susanna in the second act to tell them his fate, and at the request of Susanna for a lover song he croons “Voi che sapete” (You, who know what love is).
As a young adolescent, Cherubino is in love with every woman he meets, and since his voice is yet unbroken, the role on stage is mostly played by a female singer. This most famous trouser role is all about puberty. And while Mozart’s aria is deceptively simple, it nevertheless demands a lot of delicious details. Countless gorgeous singers have taken on the role of Cherubino in various operatic productions, or have performed the aria on the concert stage.
This aria stands on the cusp between “mocking the naive sensibility of Cherubino while also, through its sparkling melody, inviting us to share in his feelings.” As listeners, we experience both perspectives simultaneously. On one hand we understand that Cherubino is highly frustrated, but Mozart’s beautiful and sweet music entices us to understand how naïve love and lust feels during puberty. This creates an amusing and embarrassing but simultaneously sympathetic detachment. As one critic wrote, “adults are playing at a more mature game of love and seduction, yet, underneath the surface of sophistication, are as rattled, confused, and driven mad as Cherubino; they’re just better at hiding it.”
