Opera music for Babies: 3 great pieces, your Baby will love

I tried a lot with my 3 kids. These 3 pieces worked the best. Bright eyes and soft sounds guaranteed!

Mozart – “Soave sia il vento”:  the waves gently sway

This is one of Mozart’s absolute greatest vocal pieces; he carries us off into a supernatural world. Mozart accompanies the three voices with muted violins imitating gentle waves. In addition, the quiet pizzicati of the low strings and long lines of the viola draw the tranquility of the landscape.

Soave sia il vento

Mozart – «Che soave zeffiretto»: a gentle evening breeze

Synopsis: At her desk, the Countess dictates to Susanna an invitation to the Count for an evening rendezvous.

“Che soave zeffiretto” is perhaps the most beautiful duet that Mozart ever wrote. The Countess and Susanna write a letter to the Count with an invitation to a rendezvous “in the pines of the little wood where a gentle evening breeze blows”. Mozart captured the mood of this gentle evening breeze in a wonderful way. In this tender duet the two voices are magically accompanied by the oboe and bassoon.

Listen to this duet in the wonderful interpretation by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Irmgard Seefried.  Kesting comments on Seefried of this 1953 recording under Furtwängler: “If you want to feel something of the spiritual effect of her singing, you have to listen to the early recordings … in Schwarzkopf she has a partner who comes as close to perfection as possible.

Che soave zeffiretto (1)  –  Schwarzkopf / Seefried

The evening prayer – a wonderful highlight from «Hansel & Gretel»The two pray together and find sleep on the forest floor.

Hansel and Gretel got lost in the forest. They found a place where they will find sleep. “Abendswill ich schlafen gehen” (In the evening, I want to go to sleep) is nothing less magical poetry.”

Evening prayer (Abends, will ich schlafen gehen)