Sposa son disprezzata is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 aria

Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...

 written by Geminiano Giacomelli

Geminiano Giacomelli

Geminiano Giacomelli was an Italian composer.Giacomelli was born in Piacenza. In 1724 he was named to the post of Kapellmeister to the duke of Parma. Beginning with the first performance of his opera Ipermestra, in 1724, he became one of the most popular opera composers of his era...

. It is used in Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...

's pasticcio

Pasticcio

In music, a pasticcio or pastiche is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, or inauthentic.-Etymology:The term is first attested in the...

, Bajazet

Bajazet (opera)

Bajazet is an Italian opera composed by Antonio Vivaldi in 1735. Its libretto was written by Agostino Piovene. It was premiered in Verona, during the Carnival season of that year. This opera is presented in 3 acts, with a three-movement sinfonia as an introduction...

.

The music for this aria

Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...

 was not composed by Vivaldi. The aria, originally called Sposa, non mi conosci, was taken from the Geminiano Giacomelli

Geminiano Giacomelli

Geminiano Giacomelli was an Italian composer.Giacomelli was born in Piacenza. In 1724 he was named to the post of Kapellmeister to the duke of Parma. Beginning with the first performance of his opera Ipermestra, in 1724, he became one of the most popular opera composers of his era...

's opera La Merope (1734), composed before Vivaldi's pasticcio Bajazet. It was a common practice during Vivaldi's time to compile arias from other composers with one own's work for an opera. Vivaldi himself composed the arias for the good characters and mostly used existing arias from other composers for the villains in this opera. "Sposa son disprezzata" is sung by a villain character, Irene. Vivaldi has recently been attributed as the composer of the work, perhaps because Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of lesser-known Baroque and classical music...

's album "If You Love Me (Se tu m'ami ), 18th-Century Italian Songs") which uses Alessandro Parisotti

Alessandro Parisotti

Alessandro Parisotti was an Italian composer and music editor.Though also a composer, Alessandro Parisotti is better known today as the original editor of a collection of songs known as arie antiche...

's 19-century piano version, attributes the work solely to Vivaldi.

Libretto

Sposa son disprezzata, fida son oltraggiata, cieli che feci mai? E pur egl'è il mio cor il mio sposo, il mio amor, la mia speranza. L'amo ma egl'è infedel spero ma egl'è crudel, morir mi lascierai? O Dio manca il valor valor e la costanza.	I am a scorned wife, faithful, yet insulted. Heavens, what did I do? And yet he is my heart, my husband, my love, my hope. I love him, but he is unfaithful, I hope, but he is cruel, will he let me die? O God, valor is missing - valor and constancy.

In the 1880s adaptation by Alessandro Parisotti, the second stanza is left out. This adaption is the most widely heard, popularized by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of lesser-known Baroque and classical music...

 in the aforementioned album If You Love Me (Se tu m'ami).

In popular culture

• This song closes The Sopranos
  The Sopranos
  The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
  
  episode 37, "Pine Barrens", and opens episode 38, "Amour Fou".