Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni

Donna illustre del Lazio

This cantata, from an important manuscript in Berlin containing 18 Albinoni cantatas for soprano and continuo, is in effect a praise-song addressed to Isabella Tarquinia Ottoboni, aunt of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the Venetian-born prelate to whom Albinoni dedicated his first opus in 1694. Most probably, this cantata was first performed in Rome at an accademia held at the cardinal's palace. Tarquinia is lauded equally for her beauty and for her virtue. If the first aria is playful in tone, the second strikes a more serious note, since female modesty is not something to take lightly! To this second aria Albinoni appends a very brief, third recitative that opens out into a longer cavata, a fugue-like section bringing the cantata to an animated and triumphant close.