This aria was written to the text by Cigna-Santi of a scene from the opera "Andromeda, " probably by Paisiello. The opera tells the Greek myth of Andromeda, who had been condemned to be sacrificed to a sea monster, but was saved by the hero Perseus. In this scene, after Andromada has been saved, and she and Perseus have fallen in love, Euristeus tells Andromeda that Perseus is dead. Andromeda bitterly reproaches him for not preventing her beloved's death, and determines to die and join Perseus. The furious vocal passages with which she upbraids Euristeus seem a hint of the soprano furies that will come in the roles of Elektra in Idomeneo and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflaute. The strings often alternate with her lines in a dramatic and powerful way. The next recitative passages, in which she reflects on Perseus' death and imagines his blood spilled, are very similar to Donna Anna's lines on finding her father murdered, in Don Giovanni, in their tender, almost wistful quality, in stark contrast to her previous fury. These lines lead to a lovely lyric aria, "Deh, non vacar, " in which she begs her beloved not to cross the river Lethe (the river surrounding Hades, the abode of the dead) until she can join him.

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