"La mamma morta" (They killed my mother) is an aria from act 3 of the 1896 opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano.
Contents
Context
The singer is the soprano character Maddalena di Coigny, daughter of a noble family. She is telling Gérard, one of the rivals for her love, how her mother died protecting her during the turmoils of the French Revolution. Maddalena then almost gave up on life and became terribly ill. Her faithful servant Bersi had to "trade her beauty", sell herself as a prostitute, in order to save Maddalena's life. This desperation is implied in the line Porto sventura a chi bene mi vuole! (Woe to those who love me well!) which is placed at the centre of the aria. From this point on, Maddalena recalls hearing the "voice of love", which promises companionship and forgetfulness of the horrors of Revolution.
Music
The aria is a favourite show piece of a spinto soprano, especially ones who specialize in the Italian idiom of verismo. In the opera, the aria is placed in the third act, after Gérard's aria "Nemico della patria... Un dì m'era di gioia", another famous aria which showcases the baritone playing Gérard. Comprising a range between C♯4 to B5, the tessitura of the aria lies in the octave between F♯4 and F♯5, with the second section lying higher than the first section. The instrumentation of the aria is especially effective, for example the string tremolo which suggested the fires that destroyed Maddalena's home. The aria itself is divided into two sections: a tender melancholic opening part which recalls Maddalena's misadventures; and a heroic second part, full of high arching phrases, which suggested the voice of the god of love. An oppure was written by Giordano as alternative to accommodate the climactic top B, providing shorter phrases and two full measure rests. A performance takes about five minutes.