Handel - "Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno"

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George Frideric Handel - "Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno":

1. Sonata.
2. Aria delle Belezza: Fido spechio.

Deborah York (Soprano)


Handel's ‘Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno’: A Petrarchan Vision in Baroque Style

Mary Ann Parker

"Handel's first oratorio, Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, was composed in Rome during the spring of 1707. Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili's libretto owes its inspiration to the last two of Petrarch's six poems entitled I trionfi. Petrarch's meditative, even mystic, poems are a literary authority (in the medieval sense) for Pamphili's allegory of conversion from preoccupation with the sinful flesh to the spiritual life. Several passages from the libretto are directly based on Petrarch. The puzzling final aria, which seems to die away tonally and dynamically, can be interpreted as a reflection of the ending of Petrarch's series, in which Eternity, that is God, triumphs over Time."

ml.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/3/403

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As I may post some more Oratorios in here, it would be interesting to learn what is an Oratorio. The word itself imply: "recitation", not so much of dialog like in an Opera. They are almost similar, but it has a different structure and the themes in Oratorios are more concerned with spiritual topics, "The plot of an oratorio is often minimal and deals strictly with sacred subjects, making this form of entertainment acceptable and appropriate for performance in the church". In other words, its basically "A musical composition for voices and orchestra, telling a sacred story without costumes, scenery, or dramatic action."


Handel - "Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" (2)



"An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the opera. Their similarities include the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece, though they are sometimes staged as operas. There is little or no interaction between the characters, no props or elaborate costumes. The most important difference is their subject matter. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder.

There are many exceptions, including Saint Saens' opera, Samson et Dalila, Schoenberg's Moses and Aaron and others. Additionally, there are operas that deal with religious movements such as Meyerbeers Les Huguenots. The plot of an oratorio is often minimal and deals strictly with sacred subjects, making this form of entertainment acceptable and appropriate for performance in the church.

Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints. Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th century Italy partly because of the success of the opera and the Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent. Oratorios became the main option of musica during that period for opera buffs.

During the second half of the 17th century, there were trends toward the secularization of the religious oratorio. Evidence of this lies in its regular performance outside church halls in courts and public theaters. Whether religious or secular, the theme of an oratorio is meant to be weighty. It could include such topics as a creation myth, the life of Jesus, or the career of a classical hero or biblical prophet. Other changes eventually took place as well, possibly because most composers of oratorios were also popular composers of operas.

They began to publish the librettos of their oratorios as they did for their operas. Strong emphasis was soon placed on arias while the use of the choir diminished. Female singers become regularly employed, and replaced the male narrator with the use of recitatives. Eventually, Monteverdi composed Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda which is considered to be the first secular oratorio.

George Frideric Handel, most famous today for his Messiah, also wrote secular oratorios based on themes from Greek and Roman mythology. He is also credited with writing the first English language oratorio."


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oratorio

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Handel - "Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" (3)



by Andrew McGregor
18 June 2007

"It’s Handel’s first oratorio, and at the same time his last: Il trionfo…written when Handel was in Italy in his early 20s to a libretto by one of his Roman patrons Cardinal Pamphili. It might have had just one performance in Rome, but music from Il trionfo… soon began to appear in other works by Handel, eventually becoming his late English oratorio ‘The Triumph of Time and Truth’ in 1757. But this performance contends that the original Italian oratorio written half-a-century earlier, with just four singers and no chorus, is the more vital work, and after listening, it’s hard to disagree.

First though, let’s deal with the title: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno – the Triumph of Time and…what, exactly? You’ll often see disinganno rendered as ‘disillusionment’, which seems to be a misunderstanding. ‘Enlightenment’ would be a better substitute, as you’ll see when you meet the four allegorical characters. Beauty pursues a life of hedonistic self-indulgence, egged on by Pleasure – until Time and Enlightenment let Beauty know in no uncertain terms that it’s a path leading only to death and decay. To avoid the ravages of Time, Beauty’s only option is to seek eternal life in Heaven, where Time has no dominion. So it’s a moral lecture, demanding the renouncement of beauty and pleasure for its own sake…and yet Handel composed for it some of his most sensuous music, as Haïm and her cast make delightfully clear. In fact, it’s hard to think of this as oratorio at all: it comes over here as chamber opera of the highest quality, theatrically scored and performed."

To be continued...