G F Handel - Rinaldo "Cara sposa" Andreas Scholl

George Frideric Handel Rinaldo, HWV 7 "Cara sposa" Rinaldo's aria from act I, sc.7 Premiere Cast, February 24, 1711: Rinaldo: Nicolo Grimaldi, castrato Eustazio: Valentino Urbani, castrato Armida: Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti, soprano Almirena: Isabella Girardeau, soprano Goffredo: Francesca Vanini-Boschi, contralto Argante: Giuseppe Boschi, bass In this video: Andreas Scholl, countertenor Accademia Bizantina Direction: Ottavio Dantone Live performance from Festival de Musique de Dresde, 12 May, 2008 Rinaldo sings this aria after his fiancee Almirena is abducted by the sorceress Armida. "Rinaldo was first produced at the Queen's (later King's) Theatre in the Haymarket on 24 February 1711. It was Handel's first opera for London, and also the first Italian opera specifically composed for the London stage. The concept of opera as a wholly sung musical drama was still new in Britain, and through the first successful production was an English version of Giovanni Bononcini's Camilla in 1706, the popularity of Italian singers — especially the sensational castrati — swiftly established opera in the Italian language as the standard form. ... Synopsis The action is set at the time of the First Crusade (1096--99). Christian forces led by Goffredo (Godfrey of Bouillon) are laying siege to the city of Jerusalem, held by the Saracen king Argante. With Goffredo are his brother Eustazio and his daughter Almirena, who is in love with the Christian knight Rinaldo. Argante is supported by Armida, Queen of Damascus and a powerful sorceress. ... Rinaldo's own aria of lament in Act One, 'Cara sposa', is even more intense, its brooding power sustained by the fully worked and occasionally chromatic counterpoint of the string accompaniment. " - Anthony Hicks "Like Handel's other operas, Rinaldo fell into oblivion for two hundred years. However, starting in the 1970s, it has been revived regularly and has become part of the standard operatic repertoire. Several arias from this opera, such as 'Lascia ch'io pianga' and 'Cara sposa', have become recitalists' favorites." -Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Original text: Cara sposa, amante cara, dove sei? Deh! Ritorna a' pianti miei. Del vostro Erebo sull'ara colla face del mio sdegno io vi sfido o spirti rei! Translation: (by Kenneth Chalmers) My dear betrothed, my dear one, where are you? Come back at my tears! Evil spirits, I defy you with the fire of my wrath on your infernal altar.

George Frideric Handel was a German, later British, Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle-upon-Saale and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

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