Recitativo Accompagnato
Recitativo accompagnato (accompanied recitative) involves the orchestra as a means of accompanying a vocal line in eighteenth-century large scale vocal works, both sacred and secular. It is often characterized as emotional in quality and songlike with wide vocal leaps and extended high or low notes. This musical feature is often employed to emphasize important dramatic moments.
Excerpt from "Si, solo a te mio Dio" from La Conversione di Sant' Agostino by Johann Adolf Hasse.
Friedenskirche Potsdam-Sanssouci
Opera, Oratorio, Countertenor, Musical forms, Eighteenth-century music, Galant
"...che fin ad ora disprezzai sconsigliato... Ah, non ancora. Che dici, che dici anima rea? Dunque ti spiace quel ben, che dei bramar?" (English translation: "...that until now I rashly scorned. Ah, not yet. What are you saying, what are you saying guilty soul? So you are displeased by the good that you desire?")