"Nel cor più non mi sento" is a duet from Giovanni Paisiello's 1788 opera L'amor contrastato, ossia La molinara, usually known as La molinara (The Miller-Woman). The duet is sung twice in the opera's second act, first by the miller-woman Rachelina (soprano) and Calloandro (tenor) and then by Rachelina and the notary Pistofolo (baritone). The duet is notable as its theme has been used many times as a basis for other musical works, and due to its inclusion in Alessandro Parisotti's 1885 collection Arie Antiche, the song has secured a place in classical vocal pedagogy.
Contents
Music
The duet is written in the key of G major with a 6
8 time signature. The voices are accompanied by violins, viola and continuo. There is an 8 measure instrumental introduction followed by 20 measures of Rachelina singing the theme. Callorando repeats these 20 measures with new text before Rachelina joins him for 12 more that repeat half of the theme. The orchestra then concludes the piece with 4 measures. After some recitative, Callorando leaves the stage and Pistofolo appears. The duet is repeated entirely as before, but this time with Pistofolo (who sings an entirely new set of words) rather than Collandro. Without ornamentation, the range for each singer covers the interval of a minor seventh (from F#4 to E5 for Rachelina and F#3 to E4 for Callorandro and Pistofolo). The duet would have been ornamented by singers according to the custom of the day.
Influence
Beethoven composed six variations in G major for piano, WoO 70, in 1795. Other composers that have used the theme include Paganini ("Introduction and variations in G major" for violin, Op. 38, MS 44, 1827), Fernando Sor (Fantasie, Op. 16 for guitar 1823), Friedrich Silcher (flute and piano), Mauro Giuliani (guitar and keyboard), Giovanni Bottesini (for double bass), Nicola Antonio Manfroce, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and Johann Baptist Wanhal.
Arie Antiche
When Alessandro Parisotti included this work in his collection of Arie Antiche (1885), he created a solo version by including only the first 28 measures of the duet. He also changed the key to F major and added ornaments without preserving the original melody. The song was later included in G. Schirmer's Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias. It is in this form that the duet has become familiar to modern audiences. In concert, it is typically repeated with the repeat being more heavily ornamented.