Vivaldi: Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684 (1/2) - Mingardo. High resolution and stereo sound: www.youtube.com/watch Antonio Vivaldi Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684 cantata for contralto voice, instruments …More
Vivaldi: Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684 (1/2) - Mingardo.
High resolution and stereo sound: www.youtube.com/watch Antonio Vivaldi Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684 cantata for contralto voice, instruments and basso continuo In this recording: Sara Mingardo, contralto Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini Opus 111 The cantata follows the typical scheme of Recitative--Aria--Recitative--Aria (RARA). There is a variant of this cantata (RV 684a), an earlier version without the first recitative and quite different from this one. The only source of the text, by an unknown author, is the autograph score. One observation is that a similar text was used in an aria from Vivaldi's opera "L'incoronazione di Dario", at the opening of the second act. The text by Adriano Morselli is as follows: Cessa tiranno amor di tormentarmi più. Già barbaro e crudel quest'anima fedel hai posta in servitù. "... if one examines the content, one sees that in the first aria the aggrieved singer resolves to kill himself; in the following recitative he prepares to die; in the last aria he pictures himself as the "shade of a Bacchante" on the gloomy banks of Acheron, ready to take revenge. So we have a conventional, but complete plot. ... As for the content, there is a mixture of ferocity and commiseration arising from the fact that the singer addresses two different objects: his "cruel memories" and his "wretched, injured and forsaken heart". Only in the last two verses does cruelty pertain no longer to the memories but to the beloved's "pitiless countenance" and "faithless soul", Dorilla's cruelty being emphasized, in the score, by a unison of all the instruments." ... The first recitative makes the work more expressive and, by virtue of its double character, seems to have been given the function of introducing the cantata as a whole rather than just its first aria." - Luigi Cataldi Original text: Recitativo Cessate, omai cessate rimembranze crudeli d'un affetto tiranno; già barbare e spietate mi cangiaste i contenti in un immenso affanno. Cessate, omai cessate di lacerarmi il petto, di trafiggermi l'alma, di toglier al mio cor riposo e calma. Povero core afflitto e abbandonato, se ti toglie la pace un affetto tiranno, perché un volto spietato, un'alma infida la sola crudeltà pasce ed annida. Aria Ah, ch'infelice sempre mi vuol Dorilla ingrata, ah, sempre più spietata m'astringe a lagrimar. Per me non v'è ristoro, per me non v'è più spene. E il fier martoro e le mie pene, solo la morte può consolar. Translation (by Luigi Cataldi): Recitativo Cease, henceforth cease, cruel memories of a despotic love; heartless and pitiless, you have turned my happiness into immense sorrow. Cease, henceforth cease to tear my breast, to pierce my soul, to rob my heart of peace and calm. Wretched, injured and forsaken you are, my heart, if a tyrannical passion can rob you of tranquillity because a pitiless countenance, a faithless soul, harbours and nurtures nothing but cruelty. Aria Ah, ungrateful Dorilla wishes me to remain unhappy; ah, ever more pitilessly she forces out my tears. For me there is no remedy, for me no more hope. Only death will assuage my bitter pain and sorrow.
High resolution and stereo sound: www.youtube.com/watch Antonio Vivaldi Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684 cantata for contralto voice, instruments and basso continuo In this recording: Sara Mingardo, contralto Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini Opus 111 The cantata follows the typical scheme of Recitative--Aria--Recitative--Aria (RARA). There is a variant of this cantata (RV 684a), an earlier version without the first recitative and quite different from this one. The only source of the text, by an unknown author, is the autograph score. One observation is that a similar text was used in an aria from Vivaldi's opera "L'incoronazione di Dario", at the opening of the second act. The text by Adriano Morselli is as follows: Cessa tiranno amor di tormentarmi più. Già barbaro e crudel quest'anima fedel hai posta in servitù. "... if one examines the content, one sees that in the first aria the aggrieved singer resolves to kill himself; in the following recitative he prepares to die; in the last aria he pictures himself as the "shade of a Bacchante" on the gloomy banks of Acheron, ready to take revenge. So we have a conventional, but complete plot. ... As for the content, there is a mixture of ferocity and commiseration arising from the fact that the singer addresses two different objects: his "cruel memories" and his "wretched, injured and forsaken heart". Only in the last two verses does cruelty pertain no longer to the memories but to the beloved's "pitiless countenance" and "faithless soul", Dorilla's cruelty being emphasized, in the score, by a unison of all the instruments." ... The first recitative makes the work more expressive and, by virtue of its double character, seems to have been given the function of introducing the cantata as a whole rather than just its first aria." - Luigi Cataldi Original text: Recitativo Cessate, omai cessate rimembranze crudeli d'un affetto tiranno; già barbare e spietate mi cangiaste i contenti in un immenso affanno. Cessate, omai cessate di lacerarmi il petto, di trafiggermi l'alma, di toglier al mio cor riposo e calma. Povero core afflitto e abbandonato, se ti toglie la pace un affetto tiranno, perché un volto spietato, un'alma infida la sola crudeltà pasce ed annida. Aria Ah, ch'infelice sempre mi vuol Dorilla ingrata, ah, sempre più spietata m'astringe a lagrimar. Per me non v'è ristoro, per me non v'è più spene. E il fier martoro e le mie pene, solo la morte può consolar. Translation (by Luigi Cataldi): Recitativo Cease, henceforth cease, cruel memories of a despotic love; heartless and pitiless, you have turned my happiness into immense sorrow. Cease, henceforth cease to tear my breast, to pierce my soul, to rob my heart of peace and calm. Wretched, injured and forsaken you are, my heart, if a tyrannical passion can rob you of tranquillity because a pitiless countenance, a faithless soul, harbours and nurtures nothing but cruelty. Aria Ah, ungrateful Dorilla wishes me to remain unhappy; ah, ever more pitilessly she forces out my tears. For me there is no remedy, for me no more hope. Only death will assuage my bitter pain and sorrow.