Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno
A rare oratorio by Händel
Händel
Maria Erlacher, soprano (La bellezza)
Maria Ladurner (Nuremberg) / Marie Luise Werneburg (Helsinki), soprano (Il piacere)
Marian Dijkhuizen, alto (Il disinganno)
Nino Aurelio Gmünder, tenor (Il tempo)
Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Georg Kallweit and Petteri Pitko, musical leading
Ilka Seifert and Folkert Uhde, concept and directing
Jörg Bittner, lights
Intensely ornate Baroque melodies, big emotions and amazingly precise psychology. All these things are found in Georg Friedrich Händel’s rare oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion), which the Finnish Baroque Orchestra is to perform in cooperation with Nuremberg International Organ Week. Folkert Uhde and Ilka Seifert will dramatize the piece, and young talented singers from Germany will join FiBO. The production is performed in Nuremberg in the summer, and it is brought to Finland in September.
The Triumph of Time and Disillusion followed Händel through his whole life. Written in Rome in 1707, it was the first oratorio by the master of musical drama. Later in London, when Händel dedicated himself to oratorios again after his opera phase, he revised this piece of work into a new version, intended for the English audience. A few years before his death, the oratorio was modified again and converted into English.
This concert, however, presents the original version from Rome, with the Baroque drama in full splendour. The 18th century loved mysterious allegories. The tale about Beauty, torn from the arms of Pleasure by Time and Truth, were familiar depictions to the people of that time. From the contemporary perspective it is real psychoanalysis, and a thought-provoking story about the individual’s personal growth and road to self-acceptance.
The young Händel creatively interprets the libretto’s multifaceted impressions with this music, and draws psychologically rich portraits of the allegorical characters. The oratorio also offered him good material for the future: the prototype of the hit aria ”Lascia ch'io pianga” is sung by Pleasure in this version.
Duration: 2 h (no intermission)