Two Mozart's Luisas

Fiordiligi and Dorabella

Luisa Villanova - the first Dorabella

The singer who sang the role of Dorabella at the premiere of Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutte", Italian soprano Luisa Villanova began her artistic career in Vienna in the early 1870s as a ballet dancer. She then became an opera singer in Italy. She returned to Vienna in 1789, where she successfully presented herself as Madame Lucille in Vicente Martin y Soler's opera "L'arbore di Diana". Music critics praised her charming appearance, sensitive and expressive acting as well as her beautiful voice.

Although she was remembered in music history primarily because of her association with Mozart, there is evidence she appeared as an opera singer in cities such as Turin, Venice, Milan, Padua, Naples, Rome and Madrid. In 1794, she sang the role of Carolina in Cimarosa's opera "Il matrimonio segreto" in Venice, which premiered shortly before that in Vienna.

Just before interpreting the character of Dorabella in Burgtheater in Vienna, Luisa Villanova had already made contacts with Mozart, who had written several arias for her. One of them is Ahi cosa veggio...Vado ma dove, which was written as an insertion aria for Vicente Martin y Soler's opera "Il burbero di buon cuore". At that time, it was not uncommon for composers to write insertion arias for operas by other composers. In this particular case, Mozart did so because the Spanish composer was no longer in Vienna when the preparations were made for a new stage production of his opera. This reveals another strange thing - the custom of writing new arias for new singers. It a singer who performed at the premiere was not available for next production, but someone else, composers had to write new music for the new singer. The purpose of this practice was to write music that could fit singers perfectly.

Costume design for Countess Almaviva
(1905)

Luisa Laschi Mombelli - First Countess Almaviva

A few months after its very successful premiere in Prague, Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" was first performed in Vienna in 1788. The best singers were hired for that production. Caterina Cavalieri sang the role of Donna Elvira. Mozart's first love, Aloysia Weber, interpreted the role of Donna Anna. At the time, one of the leading singers in Vienna was soprano Luisa Laschi, who received higher income than her German or Austrian colleagues with whom she sang at the Imperial Theater. It was she who sang the role of Zerlina, while the role of the faithful servant Leporello was interpreted by another excellent singer - Francesco Benucci. Mozart wrote some new music to fit the voices of his singers. One of the most beautiful numbers from the score is a hilariously comis duet sung by Zerlina and Leporello - Restati quà ... Per queste tue manine. 

Born around 1760 in Florence, Luisa Laschi Mombelli has had a brief, though intense career in opera, both in her native Italy and in Vienna. She has performed numerous roles, very diverse, making it difficult to accurately classify her voice. She interpreted the role of Countess Almaviva in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", the role of Aspasia in Salieri's opera "Axur, re d'Ormus" and the role of Isabella in the opera "Una cosa rara" by Vicente Martin y Soler. She was the first wife of a prominent lyric tenor Domenico Mombelli, who had a traveling opera troupe that was active between 1806 and 1811. His second wife Vincenza was also a singer, as were their two daughters Ester and Anna.

Luisa Laschi arrived in Vienna in 1784 and immediately after her first engagement she was praised for her clean voice, musicality and expressive singing. During her next stay in the imperial capital, which was in 1786, Luisa was tasked with presenting for the first time on stage the character of the Countess in Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro."