Aria di Ciaconna – Su la cetra amorosa Libra terzo Op.12

Tarquinio
Merula was born in Cremona and led a life almost as restless and cosmopolitan
as Vivaldi. He held posts all over Northern Italy and even as far afield as
Warsaw. He was often in trouble which may explain his many different postings.
He eventually settled back in Cremona in 1646. He was highly regarded for both
his instrumental and his vocal music. His style combines dense harmony with an
expansive vocal treatment and he was especially original in his synthesis of
vocal and instrumental forms.

The
early seventeenth century saw the development of recitar cantando, where the vpoice was not hindered by contrapuntal
obligation to other parts as in the polyphonic music of the late sixteenth
century. Instead, the solo voice accompanied by a bass line was free to declaim
the text according to spoken accents, speeding up and slowing down in response
to the demands of the text.

And
so, in Su la cetra amorosa, the
singer declaims how once again she is going to do battle with the pitiless
archer, Amor. Despite her disastrous
campaigns in the past, where she has many times already died of love she
prepares once more to enter the fray. This delightful conceit is developed with
great ingenuity and sings such sweet songs.