simile aria comes with strong images of disaster:
If Aquilo in his rage truncates / the beloved plant, / the dear grapevine / languidly falls to the soil. // Of the darling trunk deprived, / has nobody to sustain her, / whom the river does not revive, / neither nourishes the sun.151
This anomalous situation deeply shades any consideration of Zomira’s character, whom the audience might expect to represent the typically helpless, victimised, and fragile young second woman of the opera. ‘Se d’Aquilon’, being her very first aria, turns it all upside down and gives the strongest impression of power, one generated by a mixture of bravery and fright: she fights against hopelessness, which might reign if she lost the one who means everything to her.
For Strada, who must have been very receptive to adopting not only certain elements but the general vocal production of the castrato singing method, these years must have meant a vital period of learning, having the young Farinelli as her stage partner. Naomi Adele André has suggested the same when discussing Cuzzoni and Faustina’s long-term collaboration with Senesino as an example of a phenomenon of early Romantic Italian opera as well:
In addition to formal teaching situations, the castrati’s presence in opera gave other singers an opportunity to “learn by example” […] As with Cuzzoni and Bordoni, several of the female singers who were the first interpreters of primo ottocento opera also had the benefit of singing onstage with, and learning formally or informally from their ←61 | 62→castrati colleagues. […] Frequently these women sang the prima donna characters that were romantically paired with the heroic roles assigned to the castrati in the plot. This meant that these women had to blend their voices with the castrati’s, coordinate complementing embellishments, and decide where they both would breathe for the numbers where they sang together.152
Strada must have noticed the obvious difference in quality when comparing Carlo Broschi to the former castrati she had encountered. Most probably it was also very helpful that they were of a similar age (Farinelli was nineteen in 1724, Strada two years his elder) and that both were in their early careers ‒ already with some reputation behind them, but still in the process of maturing. Moreover, this was the very time when Farinelli ‒ after Faustina emerged as a star with the new manner of bravura singing by 1720 ‒ with the help of his master, Porpora, acquired a greater measure of virtuosity in the execution of passaggi, wide leaps and a higher level of rhythmic variety, so as to compete with her.153 Strada ostensibly had enough self-assurance to work with him in a relaxed atmosphere, and, doing so, could get as close as professionally possible to observe and learn from this extraordinary living example of rich and bright vocal production, perfect messa di voce, incredible breath control, as well as use of chest and support:154
The perfect art of holding the breath, and retaking it with such cleanness, so as to not allow anyone to know when he was breathing, started and ended with him. The perfect intonation, the unfolding, the extending and expanding of the voice, his portamento, the perfect union of registers, the sparkling agility, and perfect trill were all in him in the same degree of perfection.155
Four times they played lovers: in Semiramide as Zomira and Nino (singing the duet ‘Mio bel sole, Idolo mio’ III/10), in Eraclea as Flavia and Damiro, in Zenobia as Aspasia and Decio, and as Ermione and Oreste in Astianatte. As sopranos, they had the same high tessitura in duets. Only when singing at the same time was Farinelli’s part written a third lower. Even then, the vocal lines crossed each other several times, as is the case in ‘Spera sì, ma solo amore’ (Zenobia in Palmira III/8; B↑ major, Larghetto, 6/8; Ex. 2.2) – the only duet between Strada and Farinelli that survives, mainly because the castrato was always avoiding singing non-solo vocal numbers.156
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In the question of acting, however, Strada might have been much more accomplished and natural than Farinelli, who, though having an advantageous appearance, lacked passion on the one hand and refrained from using any gesture for the expression on the other. According to Quantz and Charles Burney, he simply stood motionless like a statue.157 Strada, at the same time, was reported in London to have a ‘good manner’, which might refer to an effective way of acting, but her small figure was out of the ordinary. This latter comment only poised a problem to British audiences, not Italian ones.
Example 2.2 Leo: Zenobia in Palmira – Excerpt from the duet ‘Spera sì, ma solo’, bars 22–35, vocal parts
In the next production, Leonardo Vinci’s Eraclea,158 Strada played the flirtatious Flavia, one of Eraclea’s daughters, who desires love only for pleasure. Nevertheless, her relationship with the irresponsible Demetrio (Farinelli) brings her only pain and torments of jealousy.159 She had been entrusted with galant arias in Andante. ‘È un amor che alletta poco’ (I/6; C major, C, Andante) features a high tessitura, mostly between c″ and a″. The same can be said about her another first-act aria, ‘Il ruscelletto amante dell’erbe’ (I/15; G major, C). Although it is more chiselled rhythmically, it has octave jumps and even more accented high notes than the former aria. Markstrom noted the sweet and delicate effect the ←63 | 64→orchestration creates with the recorder and pizzicato strings.160 ‘Non sa che sia’ (II/3) is a gavotte with syncopation, rush coloraturas culminating in accented a″ notes, and trills. The latter are frequent in her next two arias as well, those of ‘La filomena che piange’ (II/11; A major, C, Poco andante) and ‘Da quell’ora che restai’ (III/4; G minor, C, Tempo giusto – Largo; Ex. 2.3). This confirms Charles Burney’s later remark about Strada’s brilliant shakes in London. The latter, an aria d’agilità, uses violins with sordine to accompany the syncopated vocal line with its repeated notes and trills at the word catene (chains), jumps of a sixth, and general semiquaver coloratura flourishes. On the whole, Reinhard Strohm’s observation about Eraclea as a mezzo carattere dance opera is definitely valid for Strada’s role, while the elevated level of virtuosity in these types of arias proves Vinci’s compositional inventiveness and fluidity.161
After Eraclea, there was a pasticcio set by Vinci and Leonardo Leo, namely Turno Aricino, complemented with arias of Giovanni Porta, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Lotti, Porpora, Giovanni Maria Capelli, and Vivaldi, among others. The Avvisi di Napoli stated that ‘the performers have been permitted to place in this opera diverse arias to their satisfaction’.162 Strada, in the role of Livia, had five arias, three of which survive. ‘Non so dirlo, e un non so che’ (I/5) as well as ‘La speme lusinghiera’ (II/6) by Leo,163 and ‘Se fide quanto belle’ ←64 | 65→(III/5) by Vivaldi.164 The other two are: ‘Se piaci a questo cor’ (I/11) by Vinci and ‘Spiego il volo’ (III/9) by Porta.165 ‘Non so dirlo, e un non so che’ (I/5; 2/4, B↑ major) borrows its text from Antonio Salvi’s Arsace, which was given at S. G. Grisostomo in Venice in 1718 in Michelangelo Gasparini’s setting (aria of Rosmiri, I/3).166 ‘La speme lusinghiera’ (II/6; 3/8, C major; Ex. 2.4) is probably Leo’s new setting of Silvio Stampiglia’s verses from Turno Aricino.167 Both of Leo’s contributions are arie di mezzo carattere of Neapolitan style, with syncopation, chromatics, sixth-, seventh-, and octave jumps, and of a high tessitura, reaching a″ notes placed