Cesti - Intorno all’idol mio - Anna Teplukhina

Marco Antonio Cesti: Orontea - Intorno all’idol mio - Anna Teplukhina Orontea is an opera of the 17th century telling the story of love between Queen of Egypt Orontea and a handsome refugee painter Alidoro, their love seems to be impossible because of the royal status. This Aria is very famous in the opera, it is a sleeping scene of Orontea, where the aria is delivered over a prostrate Alidoro, singing desperately, her swelling through a word like ’cortesi’ and then dying away almost to nothing, conveying a sense of being riven by feeling The lyrics: Intorno all’idol mio spirate pur, spirate, Aure, Aure soavi e grate, E nelle guancie elette Baciatelo per me, Cortesi, cortesi aurette! Al mio ben, che riposa Su l’ali della quiete, Grati, grati sogni assistete E il mio racchiuso ardore Svelate gli per me, O larve, o larve d’amore!