Alessandro Scarlatti: Cantata, ‘Ombre tacite e sole’, for soprano solo, two violins, viola and basso continuo

Autograph full score. Written in ink, on systems of four and five staves. The bass is figured throughout. Signed ‘Cav[alier]e Aless[andr]o Scarlatti’ at top left, and headed ‘Cantata p[er] / Camera / Sopr[an]o Solo / con Strom[en]ti d’Arco. / 31 8bre 1716’ at left of first system (f. 1r). The work is in the following sections: ff. 1r-2v. Accompanied recitative ‘Ombre tacite, e sole’; tempo marking ‘adagio’. ff. 3r-4v. Aria ‘Con piede errante’; ‘lento’. ff. 5r-6r. Accompanied recit. ‘Qui, fra tenebre oscure’; no tempo marking. Though figuring occurs all through the bass line, alternate passages are marked ‘Senza Cembalo’ and ‘Con Cembalo’. ff. 6r-8v. ‘Aria’ ‘Allor d’intorno a te’; ‘and[ant]e lento’. In the lower system on f. 7v the vocal line and text only have been entered and then the whole struck through; the continuation on f. 8r is a variant setting of the same text. The no. ‘25’ is in ink at top left of f. 1r; at bottom right of the same folio, in pencil, ‘IV 137’, the no. of the manuscript in Kinsky, Heyer. Katalog .