Sposa son disprezzata

"Sposa son disprezzata" ("I am wife and I am scorned") is an Italian aria written by Francesco Gasparini. It is used in Vivaldi's pasticcio, Bajazet.

The music for this aria was not composed by Vivaldi. The originating work is Francesco Gasparini's opera Bajazet, composed before Vivaldi's pasticcio. It was a common practice during Vivaldi's time to compile arias from other composers with one own's work for an opera. Vivaldi himself composed the arias for the good characters and mostly used existing arias from other composers for the villains in this opera. "Sposa son disprezzata" is sung by a villain character, Irene. Vivaldi has recently been attributed as the composer of the work, perhaps because Cecilia Bartoli's album "If You Love Me (Se tu m'ami ), 18th-Century Italian Songs") which uses Alessandro Parisotti's 19-century piano version, attributes the work solely to Vivaldi.

Libretto

In the 1880s adaptation by Alessandro Parisotti, the second stanza is left out. This adaption is the most widely heard, popularized by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli in the aforementioned album "If You Love Me (Se tu m'ami)".

References

* [http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?from=search&session_search_id=758618223&hitnum=1&section=opera.900398 Groves Music Online] (subscription required)
* [http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=12808 Sposa son disprezzata libretto]
* [http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind9602e&L=opera-l&T=0&P=3660 Who composed "Sposa son disprezzata"?]
* [http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=68241 Sposa son disprezzata musical sheet available for purchase]