Stradella cantatas owned by Andrea Adami

A volume of voice and basso continuo pieces by Stradella (GB-Cfm mu.ms.129) once owned by Andrea Adami is discussed. A distinction is made between the arias and cantatas in the collection, and their individual poetic structures are outlined. A distinction is also made between ariosos and arias, the former being recitative texts which the composer decided to set in a lyrical manner. Stradella’s cantata Forsennato pensier, che far poss’io is analyzed noticing the close rapport between text and music. A complete transcription of the cantata is given.