Example III. Carl Heinrich Graun’s Disperata Porcia. Richard Kramer 1973 notes that this “example disagrees in some details with a contemporary manuscript copy—Berlin, StPK, Mus. MS. Graun 8240” (27).

Despairing Porcia, while seeing her spouse expire, slowly follows him to the pyre with each step. Yet this does not satisfy her weeping; she wants more sighs, interrupting her lips with such accents—she wants to endure the hot coals of agony.

Disperata Porcia al veder spirar lo sposo a passo lento lo segue fin alla pira. E, non sazia di lagrimar; vuol sospiri ancora inghiottir di dolor carboni ardenti, interrompendo sue labbra con tal accenti;