Francesco Cavalli: LArtemisia, Ardo, sospiro e Piango

Ardo, Sospiro e Piango from L Artemisia, Act I Scene xviii (Venice, 1657) Francesco Cavalli (1602 1676) libretto by Nicolò Minato (1627 1698) One of Cavalli s greatest laments, sung by Artemia in response to her unrequited love. L Artemisia was one of several collaborations with librettist Nicolò Minato; together, they hoped to be able to depict interaction between characters with as realistic a fluidity as possible. The result was, in the case of L Artemisia, an opera centred on fluid, highly emotive and dramatic recitative, moving in and out of brief arioso and duet, and with only a handful of showstopper arias, of which Ardo, Sospiro e Piango is the longest. This aria is often mistakenly described as being from Cavalli s betterknown opera La Calisto, thanks to Raymond Leppard s inclusion of it in his revival for Glyndebourne in 1970. Musica Antica Rotherhithe Camilla Seale, mezzosoprano Flora F