Händel: Agrippina condotta a morire, HWV 110 - 1/3 - Zádori

Agrippina condotta a morire, HWV 110, also known as Dunque sarà pur vero Italian cantata for soprano with 2 violins and basso continuo Text: - Music: Georg Friedrich Händel Composed: Venice, 1709? ___ Video part 1 Recitativo: Dunque sarà pur vero Aria: Orrida, oscura l'etra si renda Recitativo: Ma pria che d'empia morte Aria: Renda cenere il tiranno ___ Mária Zádori, soprano Concerto Armonico Artistic directors: Péter Szüts and Miklós Spányi Recorded in January 1992 ___ "Agrippina condotta a morire may well have been written at around the same time and possibly for the same singer as Armida [abbandonata, HWV 105]. The two cantatas certainly have a lot in common. Both are tragic works, each featuring a classical heroine in crisis, and show Handel in experimental mood, trying to capture the mental turmoil of his characters by blurring the distinction between recitative and aria and creating declamatory scenas where the emotions fluctuate wildly. The plot, drawn from Roman history, is simple. Queen Agrippina is for the chop, and over the course of five arias and recitatives she laments her fate and rages against her son the Emperor Nero who has decided she's too dangerous to live. But should we pity her? Handel's not sure. After all, she poisoned anyone who crossed her, including her third husband the Emperor Claudius. Her spiky arrogance and emotional instability are clearly audible in the music, and yet so too is an inner core of vulnerability - Handel always had a bit of a soft spot for his anti-heroes. The cantata ends starkly with a short recitative, but Handel still had a lot more to say about this complex character and devoted a whole opera to Agrippina in 1709." Simon Heighes ___ Recitativo Dunque sarà pur vero, che disseti la terra il sangue mio? e soffrir deggio, o Dio, che mi trapassi il sen destra ribelle? Cruda Roma! empie stelle! barbaro mio destin! figlio inumano, e qual furore insano a condannar vi spinge alma innocente? Ah! cuore, ah! cuor dolente, cuor di madre tradita e disprezzata, vuol così la tua sorte: spira l'anima forte, vilipesa, schernita, invendicata! Aria Orrida, oscura l'etra si renda e spesso avvampi col balenar. E tuoni e lampi, per mia sventura, a sparger prenda nel mio spirar. Recitativo Ma pria che d'empia morte, nel misero mio seno, giunga l'atro veleno, pria che pallida esangue sparga ne' fiati estremi e l'alma e 'l sangue, Giove, Giove immortale, tu, che vuoti dall'etra, sopra il capo de' rei, la tremenda faretra, tu, che fra gli altri Dei, di provvido e di giusto hai pregio e vanto, vendica questo pianto, e la ragion di così acerba pena. Tuona, Giove immortal, tuona e balena! Aria Renda cenere il tiranno un tuo fulmine crudel, Giove in ciel, se giusto sei! In vendetta dell'inganno, usa sdegno e crudeltà, per pietà de' torti miei. ___ Translation (by Elin Manahan Thomas): Recitativo So, has it really come to this, that the earth shall drink my blood? And must I suffer, O God, yielding my breast to the rebellious sword? Cruel Rome! Wicked stars! Barbarous fate! Inhuman son! What insane fury drives you to condemn an innocent soul? Ah, my agonised heart, heart of a mother who is betrayed and scorned, see before you your fate! Let my strong spirit die, reviled, despised and unavenged! Aria Horrid and dark the heavens rend themselves asunder, and countless flashes of lightning flare. And they thunder and crash for my misfortune, and rain down upon me in my last hour. Recitativo But before cruel death pours his black poison into my miserable breast, before I, wan and bloodless, breathe my last, and surrender my soul and my blood, Jove, immortal Jove, you who from high heaven rain down your tremendous arrows on the heads of evildoers, you, who above other gods value and prize wisdom and justice, avenge these tears, and the cause of such bitter pain. Send your thunder, immortal Jove, thunder and lightning! Aria Turn the pitiless tyrant to ashes with your cruel thunderbolt, Jove in heaven, if you are just! As vengeance for my deception, use all your scorn and cruelty, if you pity me. ___ Eser.