O cessate di piagarmi (Scarlatti)

Domenico Scarlatti is mostly remembered today for this contribution to the Baroque Sonata form with the composition of over 500 keyboard sonatas (K. 1-555). However, Scarlatti was also a skillful opera composer, although much of his stage and vocal music is not included in the modern repertoire. In this case, I am performing his famous aria “O cessate di piagarmi” [O stop wounding me] from his opera “Il Pompeo”. This aria was revived through the compilation “Arie Antiche” that Alessandro Parisotti made in the 19th Century. Here I am reinterpreting the aria in an accompanied melody following the harmonic contour of the original piece. Some of the chord progressions might remain the listener to some of the Chopin’s Nocturnes although one should not forget that Scarlatti was born 150 years before Chopin.