Recit & Aria: Se geloso è il mio core

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

Ref. no Sca 8 (in 'cantatas')      Price £ 8.30      sample page      cover page      To order: ☞     

This aria is from the cantata Endimione e Cintia, a substantial work providing for an orchestral setting with concertino and ripieno strings, marked concerto grosso at the beginning of the score. It also features solos for oboe, violin, and violoncello respectively. Unusually, this aria, like the other nine arias in the cantata, is in da capo form, but with the repeated A section written out fully after a very brief B section.

Endimion is the lover of Cintia (Diana) the moon goddess, and although they are deeply in love, they become disconsolate because they can only see each other at night. This becomes a bone of contention between them, and both are in danger of becoming jealous.

This aria, which is the only one scored with a trumpet in this cantata, is representing jealousy as a battle within Endimion’s heart.

The story of these lovers is told also in Nicolas Bernier’s continuo cantata Diane et Endimion, set for soprano and bass, also published by Green Man Press, ref Ber 1