Georg Friedrich Handel: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV 46a

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Georg Friedrich Handel: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV 46a
Oratorio in two parts
on a libretto by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili
First performed in 1707 in Rome

Sunhae Im soprano (Bellezza)
Robin Johannsen soprano (Piacere)
Benno Schachtner alto (Disinganno)
James Way tenor (Tempo)

Freiburger Barockorchester
René Jacob, conductor

In 1706, the young Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) went to study with Italian musicians. Among the many personalities he met in the most prestigious salons of Rome, he became friends with Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili (1653-1730), poet and philosopher. The latter presented him with a secular oratorio libretto: Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusionment). The poet's inspiring language and the opportunity to create a lyrical work that could circumvent the papal ban on performing an opera in Rome were two inevitable reasons for Handel to compose his first oratorio. Premiered in June 1708 at the palace of the cardinal and great patron Pietro Ottoboni, the work confronts four allegories: Beauty, influenced by her friend Pleasure, is finally convinced that she cannot escape her cruel destiny, which is to grow old and then die, by the all-powerful Time and the wise Disillusionment. Often revised, up to an English version in 1757, Handel did not hesitate to reuse certain airs for other of his works. This is why some consider Il Trionfo to be his first and last oratorio.