Listen to George Frideric Handel's two arias from Hercules and Tamerlano as introduced and sung by Ian Bostridge
Short excerpts from two arias by George Frideric Handel, as introduced and sung by...
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Transcript
[Music in]
IAN BOSTRIDGE: I particularly love one of the aria--Handel arias--written for John Beard, the famous English tenor John Beard, from Handel's opera "Hercules." It's a story of Hercules, of his son going off to find him when he's disappeared.
[Music]
And there's a beautiful, beautiful Siciliana aria, which has an incredible sort of lazy sensuality about it. It's--it's really Handel at his most sexy.
[Music]
Then there's another tenor, Francesco Borosini from Naples. He was very interesting 'cause I think Handel wrote his three greatest tenor roles for him. He was obviously a great actor and a great dramatic presence. But he also wrote this fantastic role of Bajazet in "Tamerlano" for him--this old man, old defeated king, who at the end of the opera kills himself.
[Music]
In fact, in the actual concert we've got two versions of the same text set to music in very different ways. One by Gasparini, a rather angry setting of Bajazet's first aria. And Handel set the same text but in a very different way, in a much more noble setting. So we have those two contrasts.
[Music out]
IAN BOSTRIDGE: I particularly love one of the aria--Handel arias--written for John Beard, the famous English tenor John Beard, from Handel's opera "Hercules." It's a story of Hercules, of his son going off to find him when he's disappeared.
[Music]
And there's a beautiful, beautiful Siciliana aria, which has an incredible sort of lazy sensuality about it. It's--it's really Handel at his most sexy.
[Music]
Then there's another tenor, Francesco Borosini from Naples. He was very interesting 'cause I think Handel wrote his three greatest tenor roles for him. He was obviously a great actor and a great dramatic presence. But he also wrote this fantastic role of Bajazet in "Tamerlano" for him--this old man, old defeated king, who at the end of the opera kills himself.
[Music]
In fact, in the actual concert we've got two versions of the same text set to music in very different ways. One by Gasparini, a rather angry setting of Bajazet's first aria. And Handel set the same text but in a very different way, in a much more noble setting. So we have those two contrasts.
[Music out]