Opera Daily 🎶 — Handel’s Rinaldo
This week's Opera Daily features Cecilia Bartoli singing “Lascia ch'io pianga” from the Italian opera Rinaldo
👋 Hello to the new Opera Daily subscribers who have joined us this week. I hope you’re sitting on a plushy couch with a warm beverage and enjoying your weekend. You can check out the complete Opera Daily archives and the playlist on YouTube for more selections. If you were forwarded this email by a friend, join us by subscribing here:
It is impossible to talk about Baroque Opera and not say Handel.
Handel’s music follows the Italian opera style in Europe from the 1710s to about 1770, known as “opera seria”. If you want to learn about the state of opera during the Baroque period (also where opera was headed), you are in the right place.
Handel was the king of the da capo aria (this loosely translates from Italian to “from the top”). One of the characteristics of a da capo aria is a piece in three sections. The first section is usually repeated with variations at the end, with the outside and middle sections contrasting, usually by pace (tempo). In the repeated section, you will observe embellishments by the singer and/or the orchestra. This vocal form is something that Handel used very often as a composer.
Today we’re listening to Cecilia Bartoli sing “Lascia ch'io pianga”, one of Almirena’s arias from the Italian opera Rinaldo by Handel. Written in the da capo style, the original aria has the structure of A-B-A (with a theme and then I think eight(?!) variations!)
We are listening to Christopher Hogwood’s 1999 Decca recording with the countertenor David Daniels as Rinaldo and Bartoli as Almirena.
🎧 Listen here (5 minute listen): Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli singing “Lascia ch'io pianga”, one of Almirena’s arias from the Italian opera Rinaldo by Handel.
I love Bartoli when she sings Handel. I find myself feeling incredibly peaceful when I listen to her singing this piece. Stunningly beautiful and simple. She touches my soul every time.
Loosely based on the 16th century poem Gerusalemme liberata (“Jerusalem Delivered”), Rinaldo has a plot that can sometimes be difficult to follow. This may be due to the fact that Handel composed the music within fourteen days (I assumed it helped that he used many melodies from earlier operas and oratorios).
Rinaldo takes place in the late 11th century Jerusalem set at the time of the First Crusade and is a story of love, war and redemption.
In “Lascia ch’io pianga”, Almirena, who has been kidnapped (and loves Rinaldo), sings to her captor, Argante, for freedom and mercy.
Let me weep
My cruel fate,
And that I should have freedom.The duel infringes within these twisted places,
in my sufferings,
I pray for mercy.
Want more?
The aria’s melody is first found in Act 3 of Handel’s 1705 opera Almira. Handel then used the music for the aria “Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa” in his 1707 oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. Four years after that, in 1711, Handel used the music again, this time for Rinaldo.
This is a beautiful interpretation of the aria by the well-known cellist Hauser.
Grateful for your time and ears,
Michele
PS. Missed our last edition? We featured the Habanera from Act 1 of the French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet.
❤️ Enjoyed this piece? Hit the heart to like it. It helps others find Opera Daily.
I think sometimes that Handel gets shortshrift compared to his contemporary Bach. Make no mistake, I'm a big Bach fanboy (much prefer Bach over Beethoven any day--the Goldberg are my desert island music). But Handel's vocal music is very, very good (Messiah would be my #2 desert island music LOL) and he was par excellance a theatrical composer. He understood how much music moves us an how to write that music. This aria would serve as a case in point -- it's so simply written to have such an effect on us. The best use of musical resources in his hands. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Almost wept at this week's offering. So lovely and soul-stirring. Thank you for starting off each week with beauty.