Vivaldi - Bajazet "Sposa son disprezzata" Vivica Genaux

Antonio Vivaldi
"Sposa son disprezzata"
Bajazet, RV 703


Bajazet is a pasticcio by Antonio Vivaldi. Its libretto was written by Agostino Piovene. It was premiered in Verona, during the Carnival season of 1735. This opera (catalog number RV 703) is presented in 3 acts, with a three-movement sinfonia as an introduction. The story is about the fate of Bajazet (known as Beyazid I) after being captured by Tamerlane (Tamerlano/Timur Lenk).

Vivaldi himself composed the arias for the good characters and mostly used existing arias from other composers for the villains in this opera. Some of the arias are reused from previous Vivaldi operas. This particular aria was taken from the opera "Merope" (1734) by Francesco Gasparini.

In this recording:

The only complete recording of this opera was released by Virgin Classics on May 10, 2005. Fabio Biondi conducts Europa Galante in Brussels for this recording. The singers are: * bass-baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Bajazet * countertenor David Daniels as Tamerlano * mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux as Irene * contralto Marijana Mijanovic as Asteria * soprano Patrizia Ciofi as Idaspe * mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca as Andronico


Original text:

Sposa son disprezzata,
fida son oltraggiata,
cieli che feci mai?
E pur egl'è il mio cor,
il mio sposo, il mio amor,
la mia speranza.

L'amo ma egl'è infedel
spero ma egl'è crudel,
morir mi lascierai?
O Dio, manca il valor,
e la costanza.

Translation (Elfrieda Langemann O'Neill) :

I am wife and I am scorned,
I am faithful and I'm outraged.
Heavens, what have I done?
And yet he is my heart,
my husband, my love,
my hope.

I love him, but he is unfaithful,
I hope, but he is cruel,
will he let me die?

O God, valor is missing -
valor and constancy.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Antonio
• Vivaldi
• Bajazet
• Sposa
• son
• disprezzata
• Vivica
• Genaux
• Irene
• baroque
• opera

[Camichda]

Hi. I love this song! Do you know where I can get the sheet music?

[civileso]

@Camichda Online. type its name + score on google and search.

[llevith]

wonderfull! VIVA vivaldi!

[5147848amp]

It's Gasparini.

[violetavalery]

IMH the conducting here is terrible, this is a sad song, not a heroic march. What the hell? Or is it a caballeta from Verdi?

[julywapo]

muy buen video :)

[Camichda]

@civileso Thanks!

[AngieKo69]

Is the singer allowed to do variations in Barock music, she doesn`t sing the right notes at 4:22 and 4:28 first bar?

[AngieKo69]

Is the singer allowed to do variations in Barock music, she doesn`t sing the right notes at 4:22 first bar?

[MehdiCapsI]

@MehdiCapsI To be exact, the music is by Giacomelli ('Merope', 1734), but the libretto had been written by Apostolo Zeno for Gasparini ('Merope', 1711).

[MehdiCapsI]

@MehdiCapsI Well, actually, Vivaldi did not do much on this aria, but butchering the original text to insert this aria by Gasparini into his pasticcio "Bajazet". He kept "cieli che feci mai" and "morir mi lascerai?" intact, and made some clumsy adjusting to the other lines, which explains the weird change of person. The original text was correct:

Parla... ma sei infedel.

Credi... ma sei crudel.

Morir mi lascerai?

[MehdiCapsI]

@therox68 Yes, it means "will you let me die", but the translator probably thought that it would be harmless to suppress the sudden change of person in that sentence, which is a little weird, even in Italian:

L'amo ma egl'è infedel (3rd person)

spero ma egl'è crudel, (3rd)

morir mi lascierai? (2nd)

An aria da capo is supposed to be set on one sentence, or two the most, and a necessary rhyme with "feci mai" may have pushed the author to make this surprising change after a comma.