#tirinto

"Se potessero i sospir' miei" (Had but my Sighs the Pow'r to swell)

from  Imeneo,  HWV 41 Georg Friedrich Händel (music),  anonymous, after Silvio Stampiglia (words) (Tirinto)

Se potessero i sospir’ miei far che l’onde a queste sponde, riportassero il legno infido,* io vorrei tutti sciogliere là sul lido i sospiri del mio cor.

Ma non possono far dal mare ritornare a me Rosmene. Deh! sù l’ale a queste arene La conduca il dio d’amor!

~ Had but my Sighs the Pow'r to swell The sleeping Gales, and roll the Sea, And back the treach'rous Bark repel, The Bark that bore my Life away; My anxious Bosom wou'd suffice Sufficient Gales of ceaseless Sighs.

More: x

16 - purcell’s dido and aeneas! despite my… preferences, i would NOT recommend anything handel for beginners ( my first baroque opera was tolomeo, and even though i feel like it’s tamer than a significant portion of handel’s other italian-language operas, i was very confused by it- particularly by the complicated web of relationships that’s a hallmark of handel operas ). i discovered dido and aeneas not too long after, and i found that easier to get into ( though i can’t say the same for purcell’s other operas- the fairy queen still has me puzzled even now ).

a recording i recommend is the 2023 one from la nuova musica. tim mead plays a minor part in that!