François Joseph Fétis (1784-1871):
[formerly* attributed to Alessandro Stradella (1645-1682)]
Pieta, signore! [Se i miei sospiri]*
(first published 1838; this version first published 1843)
Text:  anonymous

Recorded (Schirmer Medium High) Key:  D Minor
Original (1843) Key:  C Minor
Teach-Track begins:  m. 17 (4 mm. before voice enters)
Accompaniment Track begins:  same as teach-track
Pianist:  Daniel Michalak

*  Based in part on its performance and publication history, John Glenn Paton (ed.), in his edition of 26 Italian Songs and Arias (Alfred Publishing, Van Nuys, CA, 1991), argues convincingly that this piece is a clever 19th-century forgery.  The 1838 version was originally written (in D Minor) for voice and string orchestra, to the words ?Se i miei sospiri?; five years later it was issued (in C Minor) in its more familiar voice-and-piano version, to the words ?Pieta, signore!?  Because of their differing texts, the vocal lines in these two versions also differ from one another rhythmically at certain points (mm. 30, 34, 42, 44, and 46; and again in the written-out da capo measures of the Schirmer edition: Schirmer mm. 112, 116, 124, 126, and 130).  The Schirmer edition also accidentally omits the trill on beat 3 of m. 67 (but does print it in the corresponding da capo measure, m. 151).  The optional appoggiature in mm. 26 and 108 of the Schirmer edition (?do-len-te?) are observed in this recording.


Notes © 1999 by Daniel O. Michalak