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Cara e dolce
Anonymous Alessandro ScarIatr
0 660-1725)
Alessan_dro Scarlatti is remembered especially for his operas and cantatas, and is often credited with being the founder of the
Neapolitan school of 18th-century opera, though he may be more rightly credited as the last master of Venetian opera. As a ch·td 1
Alessandro..was sent
. to. Rome with his two sisters · This was due to famine and turmoil
. in. Palermo, but also to better imme rse the '
young mus1C1an ma city full of culture. It was during these formative years that his musical style was developed. In Rome hew
have heard the operas of Cesti, Cavalli, and Stradella. His earliest surviving vocal output was an oratorio commissioned in 167;utd
Later that same year his earliest known opera, Gil equivoci nel sembiant.e, was staged. After travelmg around Italy and German ·
Scarlatti settled in Naples in the early 1680s. Naples at that point was not yet a famous musical and operatic city, but after t;;
amval of Scarlatti, its reputation quickly grew. Over the next 18 years, over .half the. new operas
d h heard d'm theDcity. were by Scar Iatt1.
Most of these were dramma per musica , a well-defined type of opera with serious actton an a appy en mg. urmg those Na le ·
years, Scarlatti composed 40 or so known operas, seven serenatas, nine oratories, and 65 cantatas. We can assume that "Cara~ s
do lee" is an operatic aria. Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), noted composer especially of keyboard sonatas, was the sixth of
Alessandro Scarlatti's 10 children.

Cara e dolce
Dear and sweet

Dear and sweet, sweetest freedom,

Cara e dolce, dolcissima liberta,
how much my heart weeps for you;
Quanto ti piange ii core;
among the ties of golden tresses
Fra i lacci d'un crin d'oro
it feels the cruelty of an arrow-hurling [Cupid's] brow.
Prova d'un ciglio arcier la crudelta.

Cara e dolce, dolcissima liberta, Dear and sweet, sweetest freedom,

Le dure ritorte che rigida sorte the harsh fetters which stem fate
Mi da per merce mi stringono il pie gives me as reward impede my way
Eal mio lungo penar negan pieta. and deny pity for my long suffering.

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Andante
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 109

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st
le du- re ri - tor- 1e,che ri - gi-da sor-le mi da per mer - ce mi rin go-nojl pie, mi strin-go-noJJ

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pie _ ta, ne . gan pie - ta,

pie e_al mio Jun - go pe - nar ne - gan

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do! - cis - si -ma Ii - ber _

Ca-ray dol - ce do! - ce
eyl mio Jun - go pe-nar ne -gan pie - ta.

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do! - cis - si- ma Ii - ber- tit.

do! - cis - si- ma, dol cis - si -ma Ii - ber- tii,
ta.

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