Alessandro Scarlatti composed more than 800 cantatas, so it is little wonder that these four for soprano voice, two violins and basso continuo receive their first recordings. Three of them appear to have Roman origins. Nella stagione appunto recounts Eurillo’s passion for Clori as he veers between hopelessness and lovelorn bliss, comparing himself to Phaeton’s doom and fantasising that her hand has stolen its whiteness from the Milky Way. The pessimistic Nella tomba di Gnido narrates that the ashes of crushed love have been found by Cupid in a grave in the ancient Anatolian city Knidos. Both of these probably date from the early 1690s, when their poet Francesco Maria Paglia and Scarlatti both associated with the Duke of Medinaceli, the Spanish ambassador to Rome. Giulia Giovani’s useful essay speculates that they could have been intended for the duke’s favourite soprano (and mistress) Angela Giorgina, who followed him scandalously when he became viceroy of Naples. On the other hand, Mentre un Zeffiro arguto survives in a manuscript copied in 1693 for Cardinal Ottoboni (vice-chancellor of the church and Corelli’s patron); it is a complaint about the severity of falling head over heels for the unsympathetic siren Filli.

Preserved in a copy at Montecassino, Prima d’esservi infedele was probably composed some time before 1702. There is attractive fluidity in Clori’s roller-coaster adamance that her love is steadfast. Several arias eschew da capo form, for example ‘Se la sorte avesse in seno’, which starts with doleful contrapuntal violins and lamentation and ends with a frenzied vision of drinking poison to prove her fidelity. Quartetto Vanvitelli, expanded by the addition of a second violinist, play with rhetorical vivacity; there is contoured fantasy from fiddlers Gian Andrea Guerra and Lena Yokoyama, and attentive interplay from cellist Nicola Brovelli, archlutenist Mauro Pinciaroli and keyboardist Luigi Accardo. Valeria La Grotta’s purling musicality, precise agility in quick passages and articulate poeticism are matched by musicological inquisitiveness – she edited the performance material from manuscript sources.