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If you have never experienced Cecilia Bartoli live then you may have missed the whole drama. There is such an infectious exuberance in her performances. She is manifestly compelling. I have been looking for a video that does her justice, but as much as I may enjoy the looking, the listening pales. So let me offer you this, Pleasure’s Aria from Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Enlightenment). Opera Proibita, Cecilia Bartoli, les Musiciens de Louvre — Grenoble, Marc Minkowski. 2005 Decca Music Group
This 18th century allegorical oratorio, libretto by Benedetto Pamphilj, in which Time and Enlightenment gradually persuade Beauty to relinquish her attraction to the transitory joys of Pleasure, feels quite…contemporary.
HANDEL
Come nembo che fugge col vento
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Pleasure’s Aria
Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno
As a cloud that flees with the wind,
Stern and angered I flee from you.
If deceit is all my substance,
How can I live in Truth?
Aria de Piacere
Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno
Come nembo che fugge col vento
Da te fuggo sdegnato e serero.
Se l’inganno e il mio solo alimento
Come viver io posso ne Vero?
Libretto by Benedetto Pamphilj
