Love and virtue in Cavalli's L'Erismena

This study looks at three performances of "Vaghe Stelle" from Cavalli's L'erismena to explore different ways of configuring questions of love and virtue. The focus is on three types of relationship: one couched in the language of the pastoral and the idyllic, suppressing the erotic impulse; the second, where that impulse is carefully controlled in the manner of what has been called "courtly love," and a third, where the erotic impulse has been given free reign. The question of what an "ideal" relationship between love and virtue might be is left unanswered by the composer.