Gia dal mar sorge l'alba

This cantata, from an important manuscript in Berlin containing 18 Albinoni cantatas for soprano and continuo, is a rare example, for this composer, of a Sujetkantate - the term coined by the music historian Eugen Schmitz for a cantata that re-enacts an episode taken from mythology or history. Here, the subject is Ariadne, who awakes to find her lover, Theseus, gone. Rushing to the shore, she sees his departing ship and curses his faithlessness - though not without betraying her continuing love for him. Albinoni rises to the occasion in music of power and eloquence.