Vivaldi: Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684 (1/2) - Lesne

High resolution and stereo sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0WIr9QAdqw&fmt=18

Antonio Vivaldi
Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684
cantata for contralto voice, instruments and basso continuo


In this recording:

Gérard Lesne, countertenor
Il Seminario Musicale
Fabio Biondi


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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

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

[gdbalck]

Vivaldi's vocal works are heavenly. I listen and I'm transported to another time, another world. Thanks for the upload! Subscribed too :)

[beholt]

I must buy this CD as soon as possible. Lesne's Vivaldi sounds great!

Thanks a lot!

[serenaluce]

It's the most beautiful, lyric version of this piece! Pure delight to listen! Bravo! Though I like Cencic's interpretation very much and accept both versions, this is sung with more beautiful colour, though Cencic's is more dramatic, perhaps! Scholl's version is very beautiful too, but I prefer Lesne and Cencic.

[thebarroque]

woao his voice sounds very diferent in this recording, but great!

[Totanz]

This is also very good! Good interpretation!