Voices of Music | Antonio Vivaldi: Mentre dormi (L'Olimpiade), Christopher Lowrey, countertenor; Voices of Music 4K @VoicesofMusic | Uploaded May 2020 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
The aria "Mentre dormi from Vivaldi's opera "L'Olimpiade," Christopher Lowrey, countertenor. Live, 4K ultra HD video from the Voices of Music "Art of the Countertenor" concert, March, 2016.
In Vivaldi's manuscript, the composer calls for mutes on all the bowed strings to create a serene atmosphere for this sleep aria. We have retranscribed the "B" section of the work based on our reading of the composer's abbreviations for the repeated notes in the strings, or "semicrome."
Vivaldi's opera premiered in Venice in 1734.
Text and translation:
Mentre dormi, Amor fomenti
il piacer de’ sonni tuoi
con l’idea del mio piacer.
Abbia il rio passi più lenti;
e sospenda i moti suoi
ogni zeffiro leggier.
While you sleep, may Love give comfort
to your restful sleep
with the idea of my own contentment.
Let the river flow slower and slower,
and all motion cease,
even to the slightest breath of air.

--Pietro Metastasio
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