Vivaldi "Cessate, omai cessate" Gérard Lesne (1/2)

High resolution and stereo sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... VivaldiCessate, omai cessate, RV 684cantata for contralto voice, instruments and basso continuoIn this recording:Gérard Lesne, countertenorIl Seminario MusicaleFabio BiondiThe 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 amordi tormentarmi più.Già barbaro e crudelquest'anima fedelhai 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 CataldiOriginal text:RecitativoCessate, omai cessaterimembranze crudelid'un affetto tiranno;già barbare e spietatemi cangiaste i contentiin un immenso affanno.Cessate, omai cessatedi lacerarmi il petto,di trafiggermi l'alma,di toglier al mio cor riposo e calma.Povero core afflitto e abbandonato,se ti toglie la paceun affetto tiranno,perché un volto spietato, un'alma infidala sola crudeltà pasce ed annida.AriaAh, ch'infelice sempremi vuol Dorilla ingrata,ah, sempre più spietatam'astringe a lagrimar.Per me non v'è ristoro,per me non v'è più spene.E il fier martoroe le mie pene,solo la mortepuò consolar.Translation (by Luigi Cataldi):RecitativoCease, henceforth cease,cruel memoriesof a despotic love;heartless and pitiless,you have turned my happinessinto immense sorrow.Cease, henceforth ceaseto 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 passioncan rob you of tranquillitybecause a pitiless countenance, a faithless soul,harbours and nurtures nothing but cruelty.AriaAh, ungrateful Dorillawishes me to remain unhappy;ah, ever more pitilesslyshe forces out my tears.For me there is no remedy,for me no more hope.Only death will assuagemy bitter pain and sorrow.

Channel: Music
Uploaded: December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Author: civileso

Length: 07:38
Rating: 5.00
Views: 363

Tags: Antonio  Biondi  cantata  Cessate  countertenor  Fabio  Gerard  Lesne  Musicale  omai  Seminario  Vivaldi  

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