Di tacere

This piece is from the Opera :
Serse

This piece is for the role/s :
Serse

Alone with Romilda, Serse tells her that he loves her and bids her look into his eyes. But she keeps her gaze averted. Serse is disturbed and begs her to speak to him, even if her answer is no. When she remains silent, he taunts her for mocking him. If she was not so beautiful, he would not be forced to pursue her.

A changeable and energetic recitative and aria for mezzo-soprano. The recitative begins gently as Serse declares his love, but moves from concern to anger as she does not respond. The accompanying chords move from E through a diminished chord to the distant key of Bb. The aria is filled with jagged leaps of a sixth or more, and the tessitura is wide with short phrases spanning up to 1½ octaves. The accompaniment is unusual in that the orchestral writing is interrupted with long sections of continuo writing, and contains several tempo changes. The violin writing is wild with triplet runs and fast leaps covering almost 2 octaves.

In the space of approximately 12 minutes Serse has heard, met and been rejected by Romilda, despite offering her the throne of Persia. This aria is the equivalent of a right royal strop.

© 2005 Jeremy Fisher
Internet rights 2005 OperaTalent