Lamento Di Arianna by Monteverdi


Lamento Di Arianna by Monteverdi (1608)

Arianna has been abandoned, left to die on the island of Naxos by her lover Theseus. Arianna’s despair is conveyed most eloquently. The opera itself has been lost to time but this achingly beautiful aria has survived and is still performed.

This lament reshaped the nascent genre of opera to include more emotion in the music. It is said that Monteverdi had experienced personal tragedies whose deep pain was his muse.

Turn back, my Theseus
turn back Theseus, oh God!
Turn back to gaze on her
who abandoned
her country and kingdom just for you,
and who will leave her bare bones
on these sands as food for fierce and merciless animals.

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