L'Arianna

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L'Arianna was the second opera written by Claudio Monteverdi, and one of the most influential and famous specimens of early baroque opera. It was first performed in Mantua in 1608. Its subject matter was the ancient Greek legend of Ariadne and Theseus.

The opera has been lost except for a single famous piece, Lamento d'Arianna (Ariadne's Complaint), also known by its first words, "Lasciatemi morire" ("Let me die"). It is a solo aria, illustrating Ariadne's desparation after being forsaken by Theseus on the island of Naxos. It was famous already in its own time as a prime example of the then revolutionary new musical style of operatic monody, the so-called seconda prattica. It was discussed as such by the contemporary music theorist Giovanni Battista Doni in 1640.^[1]

The lamento was preserved because Monteverdi later re-published it as a standalone piece in 1623. He also wrote two re-arrangements: one as a five-voice madrigal, published as part of his Sixth Book of Madrigals in 1614, and one with a new religious text in Latin, "Pianto della Madonna", published in his collection Selva morale e spirituale in 1641.^[2]

[edit] External link

• Free scores of Lamento d'Arianna in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

[edit] References

1. ^ H. H. Eggebrecht, Musik im Abendland, Munich: Piper, 1991, p.339.
2. ^ Dtv-Atlas zur Musik, München: DTV, 1971.