A setting of a mournful text common in baroque operas and cantatas. The most influential early 17th-century example was Monteverdi's Lamento d′Arianna (1608), an expressive operatic recitative. His Lamento della ninfa (1638) established a type ‘in stile recitativo’ over a repeated descending four-note figure which was widely imitated, notably by Cavalli. Pathetic lament arias, many of them with some form of descending four-note bass, are found in Purcell's operas and early 18th-century works. ‘Lamento’ is occasionally used as a title of instrumental works.
